We LOVE this White Almond Sour Cream Cake recipe from scratch. It is delicious, moist, and it holds up perfectly to fondant. This “WASC” cake has been one of our most popular scratch recipes on My Cake School over the years, and is definitely one of my favorites!
You will notice in the photo that the cake itself is not stark white, due to the fact that we use the whole eggs (rather than just the egg whites), and butter instead of shortening. This gives us a soft yellow shade.
I just love the balance of vanilla with a hint of almond in this flavorful recipe. However, as subtle as the almond flavoring is, if you are truly not a fan of almond, you are going to notice it. No worries! Simply leave out the almond flavoring and you will have an amazingly moist and flavorful White Sour Cream Cake!
This White Almond Sour Cream Cake is amazing with so many different fillings and frostings. In the photo, we have frosted our cake with our Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe.
You can find a listing of our favorite frostings in the Frostings category of our Recipes section, there are so many that would pair perfectly with this wonderful cake!
The mixing method used in this cake recipe is known as the Reverse Creaming Method. You will notice that the order that the ingredients are added is different than the traditional method of mixing.
We have several cake recipes in our Recipes section that call for the Reverse Creaming Method. (We first read about this method in Rose Levy-Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible, and have been experimenting with incorporating it into many of our favorite cake recipes ever since).
This method results in cakes that are slightly denser and have a velvety texture. For more information on the Reverse Creaming Method, you can find a link to our free cake video tutorial on the method at the bottom of this post!
*If you prefer a fluffier texture to your cakes, you can find this same delicious White Almond Sour Cream Cake Recipe using the conventional method of mixing. This is also the recipe/mixing method that I use when making White Almond Sour Cream Cupcakes because they come out fluffier!: White Almond Sour Cream Cake Recipe (conventional method).
We hope that you enjoy this amazing recipe! Please let us know if you have any questions!
White Almond Sour Cream Cake (Scratch)
Ingredients
Directions
Did you know that we also have a Chocolate Sour Cream Cake recipe? It is decadent, ultra moist, and has a wonderfully soft texture. You can find it here!: Chocolate Sour Cream Cake Recipe from Scratch
If you prefer to work with cake mixes, here is a great doctored cake mix version of White Almond Sour Cream Cake!: White Almond Sour Cream Cake (Doctored Cake Mix Version)
For more information on the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing as used in this recipe, find our free video tutorial here!: Reverse Creaming Method
You may also like our White Cake Recipe from scratch! It’s another popular choice from our Recipes section! Super moist and slightly lighter in color due to the egg whites in the recipe. We love them both!
Thanks for stopping by My Cake School! We hope you’ll visit again soon.
Hi Tisha, when it is not possible to use the batter right away, I would refrigerate. If you can put it into the cake pans the batter will be baked in, that is the best way to refrigerate it.
Hello Melissa and Be Be!! I have a question for you!=P I wanna make this cake for carving, not too much, but some carving, and I am wondering if I make it on this coming Friday ( Feb.9 2018) and freeze it until March 6, when I will be able to work with it, it will work well? I wanna make four cakes, but two white-almond sour cream, and two of your champagne pink cake. Do you think it will be okay freezing them and thaw to carving? Is there another possibility that you might consider too? Thanks in advance!
Hi Marcela,
Yes, it will be fine to wrap your cake layers in plastic wrap, then foil, and freeze.
To thaw the layers, place them on the countertop still wrapped, so that the condensation will form on the foil rather than the cake itself.
You’ll still want to unwrap & carve the cake layers while still partially frozen so that the cake will not be as fragile.
We have never attempted to carve our pink champagne cake. It is not as dense as the white almond sour cream cake recipe, but I think if you are only doing light carving while the cake is partially frozen, it should be fine.
Let us know how it goes!
Melissa, THANKS A BUNCH!!!!! For sure I’ll let you know! I’ll make the cake today, and frozen them. I was really waiting for an answer so I can confidently baking them.=P Just one more thing: I read a lot about freezing with the cake while still warm or while the cake is completely cool. What do you say? Thanks again!
I will take this post to say that I loved your pink champagne cake! I made already twice and I am in love!=P I will post a picture later. I wanna also give my compliments to the caramel cake, OMG, it is absolutely delicious!! With your recipes, you finally made me believe that cakes made with cake flour are really , really yummy, delectable, luscious, scrumptious, etc…=D THANKS, THANKS, THANKS!!! You guys ROCK!!!! I am super happy to have found you!=D
Hi Marcela, Melissa and I freeze our cake layers while they are still warm because it makes the cakes more moist. Thank you so much for your nice compliments about the recipes. We are happy to have you on the site!!
Do you know if I could use a strawberry cake mix and strawberry extract in the place of white mix and almond extract to create strawberry cupcakes?
Hi Mandy, Yes you can. We use cake mix that does not have pudding in the mix. We also have a doctored Strawberry Cake recipe, if you would like to see it, here is a link:
link to mycakeschool.com
Hi! I noticed this recipe use cake flour. Can all purpose flour be used in place of the cake flour?
Hi Narnia, Here is how to turn your all purpose flour into cake flour:
For each cup of all purpose flour in the recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch. For this recipe, measure out 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, remove 5 Tablespoons and replace the AP flour with 5 Tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk to blend.
This recipe uses the Reverse Creaming Method, if you are not familiar with that method, Melissa has a link to a video of reverse creaming in the text above. Also, if you prefer to make the cake using the conventional mixing method, there is a link for that also. Hope you enjoy the recipe.
Melissa or BeBe, (or anyone who has tried both recipes), Which do you prefer? The WASC box or the scratch recipe? What are the pros and cons of each? I don’t want a “wet” texture, just moist. Thanks so much!
Hi Gloria, Melissa and I prefer the WASC scratch recipe. It has a light moist texture. The WASC box recipe is also a very popular recipe. It is also good and quicker to make. We use it often. I don’t think you will go wrong with either one.
I’d like to make a semi naked cake using the scratch recipe, reverse creaming method, is it dense enough to hold up?
The pictures of this cake are so BEAUTIFUL and refreshing! My children LOVED this cake the first time I made it. Thank you so much!
I tried this recipe two days ago. I use the normal cleaning message because is going to be covered in fondant. My only complaint was is that it doesn’t rise a lot. Are used to eight-Inch 2 inch tall pans and they only Rose about an inch. I like the taste. Is it normal for this cake not rise a lot? And yes before you ask my baking powder is fresh
Hi Michelle, You are right, this recipe should rise higher than 1 inch. I am not sure from your post if you used the reverse creaming method or the conventional method. When using the reverse creaming method, if the dry ingredients are not mixed until it looks like coarse sand or if when mixing the batter is mixed at too high a speed (do not mix over medium speed) or over mixed, it can cause the cake to not reach full height. When using the conventional mixing method over or under mixing can cause a problem.
loooooooove this cake recipe. I was hesitant because I’ve been disappointed in the past when it came to a bakery style cake. But this recipe lived up to its name. And while I’ve made the doctored version and it was very good and of course quick, this cake right here is it for me. My search is complete when it comes to vanilla cake.Thank you so micj
Hi Jessica! I’m so happy to hear that you loved the recipe! Thanks so much for your review.