This easy White Almond Sour Cream Cake (Doctored Cake Mix Recipe) is delicious, dense enough to hold up to fondant, versatile enough for cupcakes, and sturdy enough to handle light carving.
Doctored Cake Mixes vs. Scratch
Some bakers want to work exclusively with scratch recipes, while others prefer to only work with doctored cake mixes. Some people have STRONG feelings about which team they’re on, haha.
If you ever want to spark a heated discussion, hop over to a cake website’s message boards and ask which is better- mix or scratch. (Don’t do it!)
For me, I have recipes that I LOVE that fall into both categories. Whether it is a scratch cake recipe or doctored doesn’t matter so much to me as how the cake tastes!
Plus, with doctored cake mixes like this one, the cake mix is just the base–the secret is the ingredients and extracts that you add to make it your own.
This White Almond Sour Cream Cake is a great example of a tried and true doctored cake mix recipe that would please any crowd!
Do you Have to Use Almond?
I love the flavor and texture of this cake. The sour cream in the recipe gives it a soft consistency with a tighter crumb. I really like almond desserts and so for me, the hint of almond in this cake recipe is delicious.
However, if you are not a fan of almond, no problem! Simply leave the almond flavoring out and you will have a fantastic White Sour Cream Cake recipe to serve your friends and family.
Is this Cake Suitable For Carving?
This cake would hold up just fine for light carving.
However, if your cake calls for more extensive carving, or tapering as with a topsy turvy design, the much denser “Durable Doctored Cake Mix Recipe” in our Recipes section would be my preference.
This White Almond Sour Cream cake is very versatile. You can substitute other cake mix flavors with great results.
We also have a fabulous Chocolate (doctored cake mix) version of this cake which you can find here!: Chocolate Sour Cream Cake: Doctored Cake Mix Recipe.
Scratch Version of White Almond Sour Cream Cake
We discovered this popular White Almond Sour Cream Cake years ago on CakeCentral.com (where it is very well known and often abbreviated as WASC). We use this recipe often, but also get rave reviews for our scratch version of this cake which can be found here: Scratch White Almond Sour Cream Cake Recipe.
Don’t miss these other delicious Doctored Cake Mix Recipes!
Apple Spice Cake- Doctored Cake Mix
Gingerbread Cake- Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
Lemon Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
Margarita Cake- Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cake- Doctored Mix
Pink Champagne Cake- Doctored Cake Mix
We hope that you enjoy this recipe!
White Almond Sour Cream Cake~Doctored Cake Mix
This delicious White Almond Sour Cream Cake is a great, flavorful go-to doctored cake mix recipe. Many of our doctored cake mix cakes are based on this popular recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 box cake mix, sifted (we use cake mix without pudding in the mix)
- 1 cup (121g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup (200) granulated sugar
- generous dash of salt
- 1 cup (242g) sour cream or plain yogurt (greek yogurt is fine also)
- 1 cup (240g) water
- 3 whole eggs
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon (2g) almond (If you don't want almond, you can substitute additional vanilla)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Grease and flour two 8x2 round cake pans. (You could also divide the batter between three 8 inch cake layers if you would rather have an additional layer of filling).
In the bowl of your mixer, combine dry ingredients and whisk at least 30 seconds to blend.
In another bowl, combine sour cream, water, eggs, & flavorings. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stop after 1 minute to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl then continue to beat for the second minute.
Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees....check at 35 minutes to see if middle of cake springs back when touched, a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake come out clean or with just a few crumbs attached, and the cake will be slightly pulled away from the pan.
We bake at 325 degrees to decrease the height of the dome on the cakes.
Makes about 7 cups of batter. Works well for cupcakes.
Decorating the Cake..
(*The cake in our photo was frosted with our Classic Vanilla Buttercream. We used the beautiful piped buttercream technique which we teach in our free video tutorial for Cascading Rosettes of Buttercream!)
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Thanks for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy this White Almond Sour Cream Cake as much as we have! Also, don’t miss our full collection of tried and true cake and frosting recipes from our Recipes Section!
We have more doctored cake mixes like this one, as well as tons of tried and true scratch recipes.
You can also find fun cake projects in our Free Tutorials Section. Or, if you are interested in accessing our entire collection of hundreds of cake decorating tutorials, you should consider becoming a member of My Cake School!
Memberships are $30/year and will give you access to every video we’ve made for as long as you are a member. You can find all of the details here: Joining Information for My Cake School. We would love to have you!
Can you use egg whites only for this? I’d like it to be as white as possible. Thanks
Hi Linda, Yes, you can. Use 4 egg whites instead of 3 whole eggs.
I made this cake yesterday for a mermaid themed baby shower and it was a hit! I followed the recipe exactly (besides adding food coloring to the cake) and also used the suggested Vanilla Buttercream recipe. It was so moist, not overly sweet and the almond taste was just perfect. I did use 9” round pans instead but had plenty of batter.
Hi Lauren! Thanks for your feedback, love your photo! So happy to hear that you loved the recipe. xo
Hi Lauren, Your cake is lovely!! Thanks so much for posting your nice review.
Hi is there a reason why people suggest not to use Pillsbury vs another cake mix? What’s the difference?
Hi Jessica, It is fine to use Pillsbury for most cake recipes. If a recipe has instant pudding as an ingredient, using Pillsbury cake mix might cause it to be too dense because the cake mix also has pudding in the mix. Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker do not. Otherwise, it is personal preference on which brand you use. When Pillsbury changed its formulation and decreased the amount of mix in a box, we thought it also changed the flavor. That is when we switched to Duncan Hines.
Makes perfect sense. Thanks so much for the clarification!
It’s been an hour but the cake top still is not brown. What should i do? The toothpick came out clean. Is there a picture of this cake as it came out of the oven?
Hi Pixie, If a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, the cake is done. If baked in 2 eight inch round pans for one hour, I worry that your cake will be over
baked and dry. Possibly your oven is not heating correctly. It would be a good idea to buy an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is heating to the temperature you set for baking.
As usual excellent recipe. Have a question…I have seen on cooking shows to tap the cake pan lightly with batter in it a couple of times before baking to release air bubbles. Do you think this is a good idea or does it take away from the fluffy texture of the cake? Thank you!!
Hi Katherine, Yes, it is a good idea. We tap the pan several times to release the air bubbles and it doesn’t affect the texture of the cake.
Do you think I can use creme bouquet flavoring instead of the almond?
Hi Sharon, Yes, it will be fine to use creme bouquet.
Thank you for the quick reply! I have another question please: I’m going to bake the cake in 2 9″ pans tomorrow and freeze them for moistness. Bebe, if I want to fill and decorate it on Wednesday afternoon, should I defrost on Tuesday or wait until Wednesday and work with a cold cake? I’m very confused. P.S. This is a birthday cake for my two best friends and I want to get it perfect. BTW, I’m frosting it in buttercream. Thank you so much…I REALLY appreciate it!
Can I make this with yellow cake mix? I have a half box cake mix I want to use up
Hi Judy, Yes, you can.
Hi can I use butter golden Duncan Hines box mix?
Hi Taylor, I have never used the DH butter golden mix. I assume that it uses butter instead of oil. I did a quick search for comments on using golden butter vs the classic yellow and there were mixed reviews. I would think it would be fine to use for the WASC recipe. I would love to know your thought if you decide to use it.
Hi, can you tell me how many cupcakes this batter makes. I am sorry if you have answered this question in the pass.
I have made this cake many times to great reviews. Now I want to make a number 20, cupcake cake, Would I need to make a double batch of the batter?
Hi Tanisha, The recipe should make 36 to 40 standard size cupcakes, depending on how full you fill the liners. It would be a good idea to place cupcake liners out forming the number 20. This will help you decide if you need to double the recipe. If you double, I think you will have extra cupcakes to freeze for later and that is always good.
Thank you so much for getting back to me. I only need 25 cupcakes.
Tanisha
I made the recipe several times but always come out with a lot of holes in the cake. I really don’t like the way it looks, what I’m doing wrong?
Hi Yolanda, The holes won’t affect the taste but you are right, they do not look good. The next time you use the recipe, mix at a lower speed — not above medium speed and use the paddle attachment not the whisk attachment. Also, before you put the pans in the oven tap them on the countertop which will cause air bubbles to come to the surface. Hope this helps.
I only have Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix with pudding. Will that be a problem?
Hi Michelle, Yes, you can use Betty Crocker with pudding in the mix. It will be slightly firmer and very good. I have used it many times.
instead of adding one cup of water, can I add one cup of maraschino cherry juice? thank you and happy baking
Hi Donna, It should work fine. It will give your cakes a pink tint and a nice cherry flavor. Let us know your thoughts after you make your cake.
Hello
Your cakes are heavenly!
I bake my grandchildren’s birthday cakes; they choose the theme. So far I have made
over 100 cakes; the decorating usually takes 12 hours to incorporate their themes from frosting.
I need to make a sheet cake which takes 3 Duncan Hines cake mixes. Would I have to double your recipe to get enough cake batter for the pan. I will be putting a cross shaped pan (1 cake mix) on top as this is a Baptism cake. I thought your almond cake would be much better than the plain Duncan Hines white mix. I frost with old fashion Crisco frosting in order to make decorations.
Hi Susan, Thank you for the nice compliment. It is wonderful that you bake all the cakes for your grandchildren! This recipe makes 7 cups of batter. I think a Duncan Hines cake mix makes approximately 5 cups of batter, so you have been using 15 cups batter in your sheet pan. According to the cake chart showing batter amounts that we use, a 12 x 18 pan needs 14 cups batter. If that is the size of your pan, you will be fine to double the recipe. Below are links to 2 charts that I think you will find helpful in determining the amount of batter you will need.
http://www.fromkarenskitchen.com/tips/party_cake_batter_amounts_baking_times_2inch_pan.php
http://www.wilton.com/cake-serving-guide/cms-baking-serving-guide.html
Hello from Las Vegas! I am very excited to try your recipe for WASC cake using a Betty Crocker Super Moist 16.25oz mix. My only apprehension is the eggs. Your version calls for 3 whole eggs instead of using all egg whites. I want my cake pure white with no hint of pale yellow at all. So my question is: how many egg whites would I use, 3 or 4…keeping in mind the addition of the flour, sugar and sour cream. Thank you so much for your expert opinion!
Hi Natalie, Use 4 egg whites and clear vanilla for a white cake. Hope you will enjoy the recipe
Hi BeBe. I’m doubling this recipe to make a 12×18 sheet cake. May be a silly question, but how long would you suggest to leave in pan to cool before turning out? And, when turning out, should it be on a cooling rack or directly on to the cake board?
Hi Nancy, Line your cake pan with parchment to prevent sticking. You can use either, but we let the sheet cake cool on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes then place a cake board over the top of the sheet cake pan. While holding the cooling rack and the cake board together, flip the two over to get the cake onto the cake board. It would be a good idea to tape 3 cake boards together for stability when moving or carrying the cake. Cover the cake board with plastic or cake foil as it will be the serving board.
Hi, BeBe! Getting ready to make this with a Pillsbury 15.25 oz cake mix. Do the ingredients in this recipe reflect the new, smaller cake mix sizes? What about the other recipes on your site – do we need to adjust the basic cake mix size?
Thank you!
Could I use this recipe to make a bunny cake for Easter? I’m wondering if it’s sturdy enough.
Hi Amanda, Yes, this recipe would work well for your bunny cake. Happy Easter!
Thank you so much! Happy Easter to you!
Pls what can I use in place of the cake mix because I can’t find cake mix in my area
Hi Abiola, In our recipe section we have a White Almond Sour Cream recipe that does not use a cake mix. Click on the link below for that recipe. Let us know if you have other questions.
https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes/almond-scratch-recipe/
Do you use the oil as un the cake mix instructions?
Hi Carrie, We don’t add oil to this recipe, though you could add 2 Tablespoons if you would like to do so. Hope you enjoy it.