This amazing scratch Yellow Velvet Cake is the latest of our “velvet cake” series of recipes, which are named for their velvety soft texture. (Some other popular velvet cake recipes of ours are: Vanilla Velvet Cake, White Velvet Cake, and Lemon Velvet Cake!)

The secret ingredient is the cream cheese in the cake batter. This, along with the buttermilk makes for an extra tender and rich layer cake.

Sliced Yellow Velvet Cake with Chocolate Frosting on pedestal.

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What does Cream Cheese Do for Cake Batter?

Most of our cakes have either buttermilk, sour cream, or cream cheese in the cake batter. The boost of acidity that these ingredients add to the cake batter softens the strands of gluten in the flour, making the cake's texture softer and more tender.

We only recently started experimenting with using cream cheese in our layer cakes, and we love the added richness, finer crumb, and velvety texture.

So far, we've made a Vanilla Velvet Cake, White Velvet Cake, Chocolate Velvet Cake, and Lemon Velvet Cake . Make sure to put these on your list, and check out our full collection of favorite velvet cake recipes!

How to Make Yellow Velvet Cake

This fluffy yellow layer cake is a flavorful vanilla cake with additional egg yolks in the cake batter to give it a golden hue.

You can find the full, printable recipe card further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps for this delicious homemade yellow cake!

Preheat: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch pans, adding a circle of parchment paper to the bottom of each pan (we do this to make sure that nothing sticks!)

Flour Mixture: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.

Buttermilk Mixture: In another bowl, add the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

Butter & Cream Cheese: In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.

Add the Sugar: Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.

Add the Eggs: Add the room temperature eggs and egg yolks one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk is blended.

Alternating Dry and Wet Ingredients: With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (We did 3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet). Mix the batter just until well combined- be careful not to over-mix.

Fill the Prepared Pans: Divide the batter between the three pans.

Time to Bake! Bake at 325 degrees F for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack before turning out.

This recipe makes 7 ½ cups of batter. Works for cupcakes also (although there will be little to no dome).

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

This moist yellow cake pairs perfectly with all sorts of fillings and frostings.

Today, we chose an easy and delicious chocolate cream cheese frosting, but our chocolate buttercream and classic vanilla buttercream recipes as well as pineapple and cream filling, lemon curd filling, or sweetened whipped cream filling are all great choices.

We LOVE cream cheese frostings and have used them as a filling or frosting for many of our cakes. This chocolate version couldn't be easier to make! You'll find the full recipe further down in this post but here is a quick look at our steps.

Mix the Butter: Cut the softened butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Add cocoa and mix until blended.
Add the Cream Cheese: Cut the softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated.
Vanilla Extract: Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended.
Time to Mix! Increase mixing speed to medium and beat until fluffy, don't over beat. If beaten too long it will become very soft. If this happens, just refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes.
This frosting will pipe best if used while still very cool. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it warm closer to room temperature.

Assemble & Decorate the Cake

Decorate the cake however you like! We kept things very simple. To assemble, we placed the first cake layer on our cake pedestal.

Spread with a layer of chocolate frosting and repeat. Top with the third cake layer and crumb coat the cake. (A crumb coat is a very thinly applied layer of frosting).

At this point, I like to chill the cake in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm things up. Then, apply the second layer of frosting on top of the cake and around the sides.

I created a spiral on top of the cake using a small offset spatula (as we did in our Ridged Buttercream Cake Tutorial). Starting with the center top of the cake, I rotated the cake on a turntable as I gradually spiraled outward with each rotation.

Using a large 1M star tip, I piped shells and rosettes around the top edge of the cake, and a shell border around the base. (Check out our tutorial on Star Tip Piping!)

Refrigeration and Serving

Because of the cream cheese frosting, this cake needs to be refrigerated.

For best taste and texture, bring the cake out of the refrigerator 2-3 hours before serving so that it has plenty of time to soften and warm closer to room temperature.