The Absolute Best Classic Yellow Cake

October 13, 2021

Yellow cake is a classic dish that we all know and love! Perfectly moist with a light and fluffy texture, it’s a cake that we make ALL the time because everyone loves it!

Cake is made often at our house and this yellow cake is always at the top of the list! So if you love cake as much as I do, go ahead and try this amazing Black Forest Cake, this Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake, or even this Mississippi Mud Cake! They are all so delicious!

Yellow Cake

The main reason that I love yellow cake so much is that it is so versatile! You can add extra treats to the batter. I like sprinkles, nuts, or even chocolate chips! But my favorite part is that when I switch up the frosting! The cake tastes and looks entirely different! Which is a good thing because I make this so often that then it feels like I’m switching things up! My favorite frostings are chocolate cream cheese frosting, chocolate buttercream frosting, and cream cheese frosting.

Then, after you add in the creamy and delicious frosting to the top, you can put whatever toppings you like on! The yellow cake flavor goes with just about anything so you can use fresh fruit (I love strawberries and raspberries!) Or even add in some nuts, or shaved chocolate, sprinkles…. really, whatever you feel like! It will all go with this cake! Try it out. You will love it and it will become a birthday and holiday staple in your house too!

Ingredients in Yellow Cake

This recipe has simple ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen! Stock up because you will be making this a lot! See the recipe card below for a list of exact ingredient measurements.

Dry Ingredients:

Cake flour: If you don’t have any cake flour on hand, you can make your own! See “Baking Tips” below!
Granulated sugar: Gives the cake that sweet flavor.
Baking powder: You need baking powder to get the cake to rise and be fluffy.
Baking soda: This also helps the cake to rise and creates bubbles in your cake while it cooks making it light and airy.
Salt: Salt will enhance the flavors of all of the other ingredients.

Wet Ingredients

Buttermilk: If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, try making this homemand buttermilk instead!
Milk: This is used to mix all of the ingredients together and create a creamy batter.
Vanilla: The vanilla gives a flavor to the sweetness of the sugar.
Vegetable oil: This makes it so that your cake is moist!
Eggs: Eggs bind all of the ingredients together and helo the cake to be soft and moist.

Mixing wet and dry ingredients together in three steps.

Let’s Bake a Cake!

This cake is super easy and you can make it even quicker if you make the yellow cake mix ahead of time! You can make that ahead of time and then just mix the wet ingredients in and bake! If not, I have all of the instructions here on how to do everything together!

Make the yellow cake mix (dry ingredients): Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and powdered milk. Store in an airtight container or jar until ready to use.
Preheat and prep: When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325°. Grease 2 8 inch round cake pans and set them aside.
Mix dry and wet ingredients together, bake and cool: Add the dry mix ingredients to a large bowl. Add the water, vanilla, butter, and eggs and beat with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer or a hand mixer until fully combined. Separate the batter evenly into the two cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the center of the cake springs back when pressed on. Let cool completely.
Add the frosting: Frost with your desired frosting. I used my delicious chocolate cream cheese frosting and it is to DIE for when paired with this yellow cake

A slice of yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Baking Tips

Yellow cake is a classic cake! It can be combined with endless varieties of frostings and fillings to fit any occasion. This yellow cake mix makes it even easier to make a homemade cake from scratch, especially if you prep several jars of the mix ahead of time. You’ll never reach for a store-bought cake mix again!

Use room temperature ingredients: Using eggs, water and butter that are not cold and are at room temperature will help the cake batter come together more easily. And not only that but it will help the cake be smoother!
Don’t overmix: Ovemixing the batter takes away the fluffiness of this yellow cake! It makes the texture gummy and chewy. So just mix until everything is combined and then stop! You will be glad that you did!
Don’t open the oven early: I know that we all want to see how our cake is baking up in the oven! But don;t give in to the temptation to open the oven while it’s baking! Use the light instead! If you open the oven too soon, it releases too much hot air. This lowers the baking temperature around your cake and the cake will collapse. So, if you must open it to see then try to wait until at least 35 minutes into the baking time.
Cake flour: The reason that I use cake flour instead of regular flour is because it makes the cake more tender! If you don’t have cake flour, don’t worry! You can make it from scratch! For every 1 cup of all purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons of the flour and replace with cornstarch. Then, you will sift it together. Once it’s been fully sifted, then measure out the amount of flour that you need for the recipe!

How to Store Leftovers

If you have enough of this yellow cake for leftovers, then you will be pleasantly surprised as to how well this cake holds up and tastes a day or two later! It’s delicious!

Refrigerator: Once your cake has cooled then wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in your fridge, It can last up to 7 days! Keep it in the fridge until you are ready to frost it. Once you have frosted your cake then you can wrap plastic wrap against the exposed part of the cake to keep it from drying out. It can last in your fridge for up to 5 days with the frosting!

Yellow Cake

Yellow cake is a classic dish that we all know and love! Perfectly moist with a light and fluffy texture, it's a cake that we make ALL the time because everyone loves it!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword yellow cake, yellow cake recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 8 slices

Calories 325kcal

Author Alyssa Rivers

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

2 ¼ Cups Cake Flour
1 ½ Cups Granulated Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon Salt

Wet Ingredients

1 Cup Buttermilk
¼ Cup Milk
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
½ Cup Vegetable Oil
3 Large Eggs

Instructions

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and powdered milk. Store in an airtight container or jar until ready to use.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°. Grease 2 8 inch round cake pans and set them aside.
Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs and beat with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer or a hand mixer until fully combined. Separate the batter evenly into the two cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the center of the cake springs back when pressed on. Let cool completely.
Frost with your desired frosting. I used my delicious chocolate cream cheese frosting and it is to DIE for when paired with this yellow cake!

Nutrition

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The Absolute Best Classic Yellow Cake

Yellow Cake

Ingredients in Yellow Cake

Wet Ingredients