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Back-to-Basics Yellow Cake
This cake is everything you expect of a yellow cake: tender and buttery, with a nice hint of vanilla. Enjoy it simply plain for an afternoon indulgence, or layer it with a sweet and creamy buttercream or a decadently dense fudge frosting for an ultimate birthday party treat.
This traditional butter cake may seem somewhat dry to those of you used to boxed cake mixes. For a moister cake, substitute vegetable oil for some of the butter; see "tips," below, for details. Also, be sure to serve it at room temperature; as with any butter cake, refrigeration will harden it up.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Lightly grease your choice of pans: one 9" x 13" pan; two 8" or 9" round cake pans, or the wells of two muffin tins (24 muffin cups). You can also line the muffin tins with papers, and lighly grease the insides of the papers with non-stick spray.
- Beat together the butter, sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed, until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium-high speed of an electric mixer.
- Add the eggs two at a time, beating the batter well and scraping the bowl between each addition, until fully combined and the batter has thickened.
- Stir in half of the flour, then all of the milk, followed by the rest of the flour, scraping the bowl after each addition. Mix just until combined. The batter will look curdled after the milk addition; that's OK, it will come back together once the rest of the flour is added.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, spreading it level.
- Bake the cake until golden brown — 40 to 45 minutes for a 9" x 13" pan; 36 to 42 minutes for 9" pans; 38 to 44 minutes for 8" pans, or 24 to 30 minutes for cupcakes. The center of the cake should feel firm when gently pressed, and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
- Remove the cake from the oven. Allow it to cool completely in the pan, then loosen the edges with a knife and gently remove from the pan. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
Tips from our bakers
- If you'd like your cake similar in texture to a store-bought yellow cake mix, we recommend substituting 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces, 50g) vegetable oil for 1/4 cup (2 ounces, 57g) of the butter called for in the recipe. This will create an exceptionally soft and tender cake with the moist, golden yellow crumb of boxed cake mix cakes we've all come to know and love.
- For a fancy ivory-colored cake: Replace the 4 eggs with 8 egg whites and add 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar.
- For a chai spice cake: Add 1 tablespoon of chai spice (or 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper) and steep your favorite black tea in the milk, if desired.
- It's best to make this cake using a stand mixer. A hand mixer will work as well, but be careful not to overbeat the batter; some hand mixers blend more vigorously than stand mixers.
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Reviews
I made this cake today and it was dense the flavor,was, there . Will try again by using the oil .
I am a nurse slash school bus monitor for a special group of special needs children who have to be monitored closely to and from school. Usually I give treats on Friday for these unique children but I had a surprise request for cupcakes. In a rush I Googled Best Moist Yellow Cake mix from scratch and your recipe popped up. In lue of a sugary sweet icing I opted out for fruit and chocolate chips in the batter. Huge success! This is by far the best from scratch yellow cake mix I have found. If you could see the faces of these fabulous children you would definitely have to agree.
I have searched long and hard for a basic cake recipe with good taste, crumb, AND mouth-feel. Every other recipe I've tried in the past failed at at least one of those, but not this cake! It is so perfect! The crumb is tight but not too dense. The flavor is a nice vanilla and isn't too sweet, but best of all it doesn't leave a oily feeling in my mouth (which a lot of other cakes tend to do). King Arthur never disappoints! Thanks!
Very dense. Flavor was good but on the dry side.
This cake was not moist enough for me. This is very likely due to the fact that I baked it at high altitude (5,000 ft) but I made the King Author recommendations for baking at high altitude. The flavor was nice, however. It tasted like I baked a cake from a box.
By far best basic cake I have ever made or tasted. Moist and soft tight crumb. I worked hard on creaming the butter and sugar. I subbed fior di sicalia for vanilla. I made as mini loaf cakes and iced them with butter cream but would have been better with basic whipped cream icing to stay in line with soft texture of cake Yum. Would be good as a sheet cake with a lemon curd or raspberry jam center. Or strawberry cream filled. Mmmmmmmmmmm
Excellent recipe! I am a time-saver and often take shortcuts but this time I didn't, following the instructions to scrape after each addition, splitting up the eggs and the flour, etc., and I think these details made all the difference. The batter was thick and not runny and after spreading it in the pans it baked up very nicely. I baked this cake on a very hot and humid day and it came out perfectly. It's definitely more dense than cake mix/grocery store cake, which I like as it gives it a homemade feel and taste like I remember from my childhood - stores sell sugary sponges nowadays that I am not a fan of. I added a smidge more vanilla (because I always do) and it was great. Made a basic vanilla buttercream frosting to go with it and it was perfect!
My mother and I LOVED this cake! so easy and simple to follow, and as avid cake-from-a-bag users, it made baking a cake from scratch seem so easy I don't think i'll ever go back to boxed cake! I read some reviews saying the cake was dry and tasteless but I thought it was perfect! defiantly not an overly sweet cake but a great basic starting point; I like to add some cinnamon to the cake for a little twist but I imagine you could add all sorts of things to give the cake a personal flair!
Great basic cake! The first cake I've ever made and it came out awesome, even with slightly deviating conditions and imperfect measurements. Also mixed in floured berry bits to the batter at the very end and the cake was well resistant and still super fluffy and moist.
This cake came out very well. It is not dry at all. I chose the option to measure my ingrediants by grams rather than standard measure. I think weighing makes a huge difference with the amount of flour and some difference with the amount of sugar. I also used fresh eggs from my own hens - I think they are often larger than store bought 'large' eggs and they haven't lost any moisture at all. That may have helped with the moistness too. It certainly helps with color! I topped it with fresh, slightly crushed strawberries and whipped cream.
