The Best White Cake Recipe
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Today I’m so excited to be sharing the very best white cake recipe! This recipe yields a fluffy, snow-white cake that’s light and soft but still sturdy enough to stack or cover with fondant. Read on for plenty of tips for making the perfect white cake, completely from scratch!
We’ve covered chocolate cake, vanilla cake (one of my most popular recipes, thanks to you guys!), and even pineapple upside-down cake, but up until today we’ve been missing a critical flavor: a classic, delicious, white cake!
This is a classic cake flavor and a personal favorite of mine, so when I say up in the intro that I’m excited to share this recipe with you, I really, really mean it. This cake is delicious, and honestly so easy to make… even if you’ve never beaten egg whites before I’m going to walk you through that below so you too can enjoy a perfect, from-scratch white cake.
In case this white cake recipe seems familiar to you, I should probably mention that it is essentially my Funfetti cake recipe, only scaled down to be just two layers (so if you want a 3 layer white cake recipe, just head over to my Funfetti recipe and leave out the sprinkles!).
Let’s dig in to what makes this cake so incredible.
As I mentioned, this cake is fairly simple, but there is an important technique that I want to discuss regarding the egg whites. To keep this cake pure white, we’re not using any egg yolks and instead we are going to beat our egg whites to stiff peaks (if you’ve made my meringue cookies, you’ve beaten egg whites to stiff peaks before). Let me explain how:
How to Beat Eggs Whites to Stiff Peaks for White Cake
- Place your egg whites in a completely clean and grease free bowl. It’s best to separate your whites and yolks in a separate bowl first, that way if a small bit of yolk escapes you don’t have to start over. Even the smallest bit of grease or yolk can ruin your egg whites and keep them from reaching stiff peaks.
- Reaching stiff peaks will take several minutes, just keep beating and you will see them start to take shape!
- Stiff peaks are formed when the whites have increased in volume (see visual below) and, if you pull a beater straight out of the mixture, a peak forms that does not recede back into itself — its holds its shape. Once you reach this point, stop beating, as it is totally possible to over-beat your egg whites.
Fold your egg whites gently into the rest of your white cake batter. I always recommend doing this part by hand. Make sure that you stir enough so that the egg whites are well-incorporated into the batter, but use a light hand so that you don’t deflate the egg whites, or you’ll end up with a dense cake.
While the cake is baking, don’t be alarmed if it seems that the surface is turning too dark. The outside of the cake will actually bake up to a golden brown in the oven, but don’t worry, the cake will be pure white inside once you go to actually slice into it.
What Kind of Extract Should I Use for My White Cake?
I use clear vanilla. Regular (caramel-colored) vanilla extract will work just fine and your cake will still come out mostly white (check out my above-mentioned Funfetti cake, that one was made with standard vanilla extract), but for this white cake recipe I opted for clear extract for a cake with a pure white interior.
Many white cake reicpes also call for almond extract. None of my family members are huge fans of almond extract, so I leave it out, but if you like the taste you can substitute some of the vanilla extract for almond… since almond extract is quite potent I wouldn’t personally recommend using more than 1 1/2-2 teaspoons for this recipe, but feel free to experiment!
Can I use 9″ Cake Pans Instead of 8″
Yes! The baking time will be reduced, though. Start checking your cake at 30 minutes.
Can I Make This Recipe Into Cupcakes?
Yes! Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full (don’t over-fill) and bake on 350F for about 18 minutes (for mini cupcakes, bake for 14-15 minutes). This recipe will yield approximately 30 standard sized cupcakes.
Enjoy!
How to Make White Cake
The Best White Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ⅔ cup (160 ml) avocado oil, canola oil or vegetable oil
- 2 cup (400 g) sugar
- 1 Tablespoon clear vanilla extract
- 2 ⅔ cup + 2 Tablespoons (345 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (235 ml) milk, room temperature preferred
- 6 large egg whites, room temperature
- Double batch Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, (click link for recipe)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare two 8-inch round cake pans by lining the bottoms with a round of parchment paper and generously greasing and flouring the sides. Be sure to shake out excess flour.
- In a stand mixer (or using an electric mixer), beat butter on medium-low speed until creamy.6 Tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- Add sugar and oil and beat until all ingredients are well-combined and creamy.⅔ cup (160 ml) avocado oil, canola oil or vegetable oil, 2 cup (400 g) sugar
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and then stir in your vanilla extract.1 Tablespoon clear vanilla extract
- In separate bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt.2 ⅔ cup + 2 Tablespoons (345 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt
- Measure out your milk.1 cup (235 ml) milk
- With mixer on medium speed, gradually alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Stir until each one is almost completely combined before adding the next.
- Pause occasionally to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.
- In separate bowl combine your egg whites and using a hand-mixer on high-speed beat until stiff peaks form.6 large egg whites
- Using a spatula, gently fold your egg whites into your batter. Take care to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so that ingredients are well-combined, and take care not to over-mix.
- Evenly divide cake batter into prepared pans.
- Bake on 350F for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake layer comes out clean or with few crumbs (should not be wet). For best results, rotate your cake pans halfway through baking to ensure even baking.
- Cakes will be a light golden brown when done baking.
- Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the inside rim of each pan and invert each onto a cooling rack.
- Allow to cool completely before covering with buttercream frosting*. I used a double batch of my recipe (linked above) to thoroughly cover and decorate this cake.Double batch Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
My name is David Montero n I’m baking this cake with my 14 yr old daughter Melissa she loves baking n this is and activity we can do together the cake came out perfect thank you for your recipe
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, David! I hope everyone loves it! 🙂
Perfect texture!!!!!!
I’m so grateful for this recipe, the texture was so light and fluffy, not dense at all. Best of all, it used ingredients I always have on hand. No cake flour, no buttermilk, no heavy cream, etc. the cake also baked perfectly. It didn’t dome or sink and I didn’t even have to trim the cakes before assembling and frosting them. The cake has stayed perfectly moist and fresh for 3 days now.
I followed the recipe except the following:
-Added 1.5 tbsp of cinnamon (wanted to make a cinnamon cake with cream cheese frosting)
-I did not alternate between milk and flour. I added all the milk, mixed thoroughly and then very lightly but completely mixed the sifted dry ingredients in. I’m very wary of directions that say to alternate wet/dry just because for my equipment/hands this tends to cause a tough over mixed cake. But if alternating works for you that’s great!! Just offering this method for those who are prone to making dense/bready cakes.
My other comment is that it’s confusing if you’re meant to add 345g flour + 2tbsp OR 345g flour period. I used 345g and it turned out perfect, however I also added 1.5tbsp of cinnamon. Not sure what was intended. Nonetheless, I’m saving this recipe and sharing it with friends and family. I’ll also be trying more recipes from this author!
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, Julia! You will just add 345g of flour. I see how that is confusing. Thank you for pointing that out. I will update it now. 🙂
Hi! I was wondering if I would be able to make this cake with Oreos for a cookie-and-cream cake? I know you have a different recipe for that but I also just really like the taste of this cake
You shouldn’t have any issues stirring oreos into this cake. 🙂
Can this cake be made in a 9 x 13 pan?
Hi Cindy! This will work in a 13 x 9 pan. I haven’t personally done it though so I can’t advise on a bake time. Be sure to keep an eye on it as it bakes. 🙂
I don’t know what to do. The only things I did differently was using olive oil and cane sugar. I didn’t overmix the batter. I live at 5000ft in UT… The cake is really good but the middles just sunk to the bottom. 😭
I’m so glad you ultimately enjoyed the cake, Marjie! Unfortunately the high altitude may be the culprit here. I don’t have much experience with high altitude baking so I can’t say for sure how to adjust the recipe. 🙁 Hopefully someone with some experience at high altitude can chime in.
I made the cake, and it came out so wonderful. I was wondering if the cake can be frozen, will it still be good the next day?
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, Cobain! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! The cake will be good the next day. You will want to keep it in an air tight container. You can freeze the cake if you’d like. 🙂
Can this recipe be made dairy free? Any suggestions?
Hi Janet! Unfortunately I don’t have much experience with dairy free baking so I wouldn’t be able to advise. 🙁
Yes! I make her recipes dairy free constantly! 1:1 matches!
Is the unsalted butter a flavor thing or will it impact the bake?
Hi Angela! Using unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt in the recipe a little bit better. You can use salted butter, but you will need to adjust the added salt. 🙂
I love this cake! My sister found it on Pinterest and it’s became a tradition for birthdays and whatever holiday. I also won a cake contest with this! Thank you for sharing.
Is there a reason why you don’t use cake flour?
Hi Stephanie! I just developed this recipe with all purpose flour in mind so made the necessary adjustments so that all purpose flour would povide a great result. 🙂
OMG! This cake was amazing. So moist, even a couple days later. Best ever!
PHENOMENAL!
I made this cake base for my little cousins birthday and was a three day process because I needed to make macarons as well. once the cake was fully done and decorate it sat in the fridge for 2 days until the party and was still very moist and decadent!
This is the second time trying this recipe. My cupcakes keep deflating. Not sure what I’m doing wrong but it sure does bake better in a cake pan than as cupcakes.
Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear this is happening, Heather! Is it possible the cupcake tin is being slightly over-filled, or the batter is being worked too much when scooping the cupcakes?