Best Yellow Cake Recipe (From Scratch)
Posted Aug 04, 2021, Updated Feb 24, 2024
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This is the best yellow cake recipe! Made from scratch with simple ingredients, it’s dense and moist with a perfect crumb! Topped with chocolate buttercream frosting it’s the ultimate birthday cake. Ditch boxed mixes and make this homemade yellow cake instead.
We have a large family, so we celebrate a lot of birthdays every year. I used to use box cake mixes, but I just didn’t love the idea of using a highly processed ingredients for all of our (many) birthday celebrations. So, I created this irresistible yellow cake recipe.
This yellow cake recipe is made completely from scratch with simple ingredients (just like my chocolate cake recipe) . It’s dense and moist with a perfect crumb. It’s seriously so delicious that even if you usually “only eat the frosting and leave the cake behind,” you won’t do that with this yellow cake – you’ll eat the entire slice!
Frosted with our favorite chocolate buttercream recipe or homemade vanilla frosting, it’s the ultimate birthday cake. Ditch boxed mixes and make this homemade yellow cake instead.
Yellow Cake Recipe: Ingredients & Substitutions
Let’s discuss the ingredients in this recipe, as well as possible substitutions.
- All-purpose flour. Cake flour or bread flour can be used in place of all-purpose flour.
- Salted butter. Unsalted butter can be used in place of salted, if desired.
- Granulated sugar. There isn’t a substitute for the sugar. I suggest regular white sugar or organic cane sugar for the best results.
- Canola oil. Oil keeps this yellow cake very moist. You can substitute equal amounts of melted butter or another neutral oil if desired, however canola oil will yield the best results.
- Sour cream. Full-fat, plain Greek yogurt can be used in place of sour cream. I recommend using full-fat ingredients.
- Whole milk. Again, full-fat whole milk is the best choice. You can substitute 2% milk but nothing with a lower fat content.
- Vanilla extract. You can switch up the extract and use almond, orange, etc. if you prefer a flavored yellow cake.
How to Make Yellow Cake From Scratch
This yellow cake recipe makes two, 6″ round cakes. You can double the recipe to make two, 9″ round cakes, if desired. We’ll walk through how to make yellow cake step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Prepare the Cake Pans
Line two 6” round cake pans with parchment paper and grease well. Set aside. I like to line them by tracing the bottom of the cake pans onto parchment paper and then drawing “handles” out of opposite sides (see below). This makes it very easy to lift the cake out after baking.
Make the Cake Batter
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Set the mixture aside to use later. This step is important to ensure the ingredients are evenly distributed and that there are no lumps.
Next, combine the wet ingredients. In the bowl of a standing mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (1-2 minutes).
Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy (60 seconds).
Next, add the sour cream, milk and canola oil and beat until combined.
Once the wet mixture is smooth, add the dry ingredient mixture and beat until just combined. Do not over-mix.
Bake & Cool
Divide the batter evenly into the two prepared cake pans.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until top is set and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
Place cake pans on a wire cooling rack to cool to room temperature (takes about 30 minutes).
Once cool, lift cakes out of the pans and remove parchment paper. Let cool completely on the wire cooling rack.
Freeze
I often bake this homemade yellow cake recipe a few days before I need to frost it and store it in the freezer. Simply wrap each cake layer tightly with plastic wrap, put them in a ziplock bags and store in the freezer.
Even if you plan on frosting this yellow cake the same day you bake it, I still recommend freezing it before frosting. Frosting a a cake when it’s frozen prevents crumbs from getting into the frosting.
Frost
Once the cakes are completely cooled, frost or decorate them any way you wish. I use this chocolate frosting, vanilla buttercream frosting or this vanilla frosting to make our yellow birthday cakes. Don’t forget to do a crumb coat first – a thin base layer of frosting to keep crumbs from getting into your final design.
Chill
If you decorate the cake with a design (like rosettes, etc.) I recommend chilling it in the refrigerator until the frosting hardens and the design sets.
Serve
If you decorated the yellow cake and chilled it in the refrigerator, remove it from the fridge 1-2 hours before serving so it can come to room temperature. This is another reason why I typically bake cakes in advance. I frost it the day before someone’s birthday so it has time to chill/set and then come to room temperature to eat.
We like eating cake with a side of ice cream, like this homemade vanilla ice cream or homemade chocolate ice cream. A dollop of homemade whipped cream also tastes amazing.
Yellow Cake Recipe FAQs
Yes! This recipe is easily doubled and baked in two, 9″ round cake pans. This is a great option if you will be making the cake for a large crowd.
This recipe yields the best, moist yellow cake from scratch that you will ever eat. To ensure it turns out that way be careful not to over-bake, and measure all the ingredients properly and precisely.
I use either this chocolate buttercream frosting or homemade vanilla frosting to decorate this easy yellow recipe. I use the following tools to decorate (after my kids choose their design):
Piping bags – I have both reusable and disposable piping bags and use them all the time.
Piping tips and couplers – I recommend a great starter tip and coupler set. However I always make this rosette style cake with a Wilton 1M tip and large coupler.
Pastry Scraper. I use this pastry scraper to make a smooth crumb coat. I love it so much.
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Best Yellow Cake Recipe (From scratch)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup salted butter softened
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line two 6” round (3” deep) cake pans with parchment paper and grease well. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Set aside
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (1-2 minutes).
- Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy (60 seconds).
- Add sour cream, milk and canola oil and stir until combined.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
- Divide the batter evenly into the two prepared cake pans.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until top is set and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Place cake pans on a wire cooling rack to cool to room temperature (takes about 30 minutes).
- Once cool, lift cakes out of the pans and remove parchment paper. Let cool completely on the wire cooling rack.
- Once cool, with chocolate frosting and serve.
Video
Notes
- Piping bags – I have both reusable and disposable piping bags and use them all the time.
- Piping tips and couplers – I recommend a great starter tip and coupler set. However I always make this rosette style cake with a Wilton 1M tip and large coupler.
- Pastry Scraper. I use this pastry scraper to make a smooth crumb coat.
- All-purpose flour. Cake flour or bread flour can be used in place of all-purpose flour.
- Salted butter. Unsalted butter can be used in place of salted, if desired.
- Granulated sugar. I suggest regular white sugar or organic cane sugar for the best results.
- Canola oil. Oil keeps this yellow cake very moist. You can substitute equal amounts of melted butter or another neutral oil if desired, however canola oil will yield the best results.
- Sour cream. Full-fat, plain Greek yogurt can be used in place of sour cream. I recommend using full-fat ingredients.
- Whole milk. Again, full-fat whole milk is the best choice. You can substitute 2% milk but nothing with a lower fat content.
- Vanilla extract. You can switch up the extract and use almond, orange, etc. if you prefer a flavored yellow cake.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The best vanilla cake I’ve ever had! Everyone commented on it too! Made with the vanilla icing recipe that goes with it.
Wondering about cupcakes, and if this recipe would yield 12, as it seems like a smaller recipe than some I’ve looked at. Thanks for sharing this!
HI, can I use one 9×3 round cake? If not, do you have a recipe I can use?
Yes, you definitely can use a 9×3″ cake pan. You will need to adjust the baking time, possibly bake it 5-10 minutes longer.
Hi, my family loves your choc chip cookie recipe so I came back to your site for a cake recipe.
Your directions at the top say to include the sugar in the dry mix. Then down low it says to cream butter and sugar.
I already mixed the sugar in with dry ingredients so had to see it through.
The vanilla seemed to create a curdled effect on the butter but I kept going as this was a 3x go and I was all in!
Milk and sour cream were added still had a curdled texture.
When I finally brought all the ingredients together I had a cake batter consistency and was relieved! The cakes baked up super nice and can’t wait to taste them tomorrow.
Anyhow you might want to edit that portion of the instructions!
Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes with the world!
Hey Beth! Thank you! I looked at the recipe and it reads, “In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Set aside” (Direction #3). I hope that clears up the confusion. The sugar was not supposed to be added with the dry mixture.
Here’s where it is up higher on the page:
“COMBINE DRY INGREDIENTS
In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Set the mixture aside to use later. This step is important to ensure the ingredients are evenly distributed and that there are no lumps. “
🙂
Ahhh!!! Thank you! I didn’t see that!! I fixed it!
Can you bake in a rectangle dis for 1 layer instead of two? If so what would be the length of time to cook it?
Hi, I am definitely going to make this recipe! ♥
I did want to ask though, how large is one serving? Is it one slice (as shown in the video)? It says 16 servings but the cake in the video looked as if it had around 6 slices. Or do the video’s cake and the recipe’s cake have a different amount of ingredients?
Thank you🙂
I calculated the nutritional information based off of the cake making 16 servings. We have 8 people in our family and a 6″ round cake usually yields two pieces per person (one on the birthday celebration and one as bonus leftovers the next day). But if you have big eaters, they might want larger slices.