White Cake from Scratch
Need a fantastic recipe for a White Cake from Scratch? This white layer cake is amazing.
It is delicious, very moist, has a wonderful flavor, and holds up well to fondant. This white cake has become a new favorite for us.
It has a very fine crumb, and compared to some of our other white cakes (homemade white cake and white velvet cake), it is slightly denser.
Table of Contents
The Perfect Scratch Cake Recipe
Many years ago, when I first began to experiment with cake decorating, I baked with doctored cake mix recipes exclusively. They taste great, are super moist, consistent, and simple.
I was convinced that scratch cakes-especially white cakes and chocolate scratch cakes were-underwhelming. There's nothing sadder than a gorgeous slice of cake that is dry when you take a bite of it.
Well, here we are, more than ten years later, and we have hundreds of cake recipes from scratch that we just love! This was one of the first.
How White is the Cake?
Some white cakes are snow white- these are the ones that use clear vanilla, no butter, and egg whites.
While this white cake is light in color, it does have a slight yellow tint from the butter and buttermilk. But we are okay with this because of the richness that it adds!
For an even whiter cake, we have a delicious White Velvet Cake recipe which uses softened cream cheese in the cake batter- this lightens the shade of the cake while also enhancing the texture and richness. It's another great one for you list!
The Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing
Have you heard of the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing? With this mixing method, ingredients are added in a different order than with the conventional (aka creaming) method of mixing.
The results are a slightly denser cake with a finer crumb and a more velvety texture. You can see in the photo above that this cake as a fine crumb.
If you are unfamiliar with the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing and would like to learn more, you can find our link to a free to tutorial on the technique beneath the recipe!
*This recipe works well for cupcakes also, but as with most scratch recipes on our site, there is very little dome.
**For more information on the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing, check out our post and video tutorial on the method! Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
Frostings that taste great with White Cakes
The buttercream frosting that we used in the photo is our Classic Vanilla Buttercream, however when it comes to pairing frosting flavors with this delicious homemade white cake, the options are endless! Here are other favorites to consider!:
More Vanilla Cakes!
We have more white cakes, vanilla cakes, and yellow cakes for you to try! You can find them all in our section of Vanilla Cakes.
Some of the most popular are our Homemade White Cake, Vanilla Velvet Cake, White Velvet Cake, and Buttermilk Pound Cake!
Enjoy the Recipe!
Thanks so much for stopping by. We hope that you'll come back again soon.
Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!
White Cake from Scratch
This moist, delicious, and versatile white cake recipe is amazing!
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (350g) sugar
- 2 ½ cups (285g) cake flour
- 1 teaspoon (6g) salt
- 1Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (19 g) baking powder
- 5 egg whites ( you can separate egg white from whole eggs or use ⅔ cup from a carton of pasteurized egg whites found in the refrigerated section of grocery store)
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla
- 1 cup (242g) buttermilk
- ⅓ cup (72g) vegetable oil
- 10 Tablespoons (1 stick + 2T ) (141g) unsalted butter, slightly softened (do not microwave) I cut the butter into ½ inch slices onto waxed paper a short while before I need it. Mine is on the wax paper only 6 -7 minutes. It should still feel cold to the touch. If it becomes too soft, refrigerate for a few minutes.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
- Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch round cake pans
- In the bowl of your mixer add the dry ingredients, sugar, flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk for at least 30 seconds so the ingredients are well combined.
- In a separate bowl, add the egg whites, buttermilk, vanilla and oil. Stir with a fork to combine.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the slices of butter a few pieces at a time to the dry ingredients. Increase the mixer to medium speed and beat until the dry ingredients look crumbly and moistened by the butter. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- With the mixer on low speed, SLOWLY add ½ of the egg mixture, increase to medium speed and mix for 1 ½ minutes, the batter will become thick and fluffy. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans 10 minutes, then turn out.
- 6 cups of batter
I LOVE this white cake. Thanks for the recipe. I made quite a few batches last week for all of my cake orders. One thing I noticed was that the cakes where I used real egg whites (cracking and separating) baked better than the cakes where I used liquid egg whites. Those cakes sunk a bit in the middle. Have you found that to happen? I didn't think it would be a difference, but it was. It wasn't so much that I couldn't use it as I just trimmed the cakes to make them even. Thanks! Making this cake with your lemon curd for this week.
Hi Natalie, I don't think I have ever used liquid egg whites with this recipe. Like you, I did not think it would make a difference. I'm glad you let us know your results after using liquid whites. Thanks so much for making your post.
Hi Melissa, I just did half recipe and the cake gone really bad, it never cooked, was raw all the time and I don’t know what really went wrong. I thought it was because the temperature, so I did it again I was very careful and it went wrong for the 2nd time, was it because I just made a half? Or what do you think? I really liked the smell And I’m sure is delicious.
Hi Ana, I am sorry you had this problem. If the cake batter stayed raw and never baked, it must be that the temperature of your oven is too low. You will need to buy an oven thermometer to make sure that the oven temperature is reaching the 325 degrees you have it set to for this recipe. Oven thermometers are not very expensive, you can order one online or they are often sold in grocery stores or Target.
can the white cake be prepared using the conventional mixing method to achieve fluffy cupcakes? thanks!
I used this recipe to make this cake for my family yesterday. It was simple amazing. Everyone loved it.
Did you use conventional mixing method or reverse mixing method? I was wondering if conventional method method can be used. Thanks!
I used the reverse method, it was my first time trying this method. Thanks
Hi Sineta, Thank you for your nice post. I'm happy you like the recipe!!
Hi Ford, I have only used the reverse creaming with this recipe, but I think it would be fine to use the conventional mixing method. I will post the recipe using that method in just a few minutes.
Hi Ford, Hope you like the recipe.
White Cake - Conventional Mixing Method
10 Tablespoons (1stick + 2 Tablespoons) (141g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 3/4 cup (350g) sugar
2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla
1/3 cup (78g) vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups (285g) cake flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (19g) baking powder
1 teaspoon (6g) salt
5 egg whites
1 cup (242g) buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch round cake pans
In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk at least 30 seconds to blend. Set Aside.
In another bowl, add the egg whites and buttermilk. Blend together with a fork to combine. Set Aside.
In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix on medium speed until softened and smooth
Add the sugar and mix on medium speed 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the oil and vanilla and blend.
Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture beginning and ending with the flour mixture ( 3 additions of dry and 2 of wet ingredients). Mix after each addition until just blended in. Do not mix above medium speed or over mix.
Pour into the 2 prepared cake pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a crumbs attached. Cool in pans about 10 minutes then turn out.
Thanks BeBe! I feel more comfortable with the conventional method and tend to have problems with reverse mixing so I appreciate you submitting this version! I will post results after I make cupcakes on next week. Thanks a bunch!!