There are some days when only a BIG slice of buttery homemade Yellow Cake will do. Preferably, slathered in a generous coat of rich chocolate buttercream, but I’m not picky!
If you’ve been searching for the perfect scratch Yellow Cake recipe, look no further. Today we’re excited to share a perfectly fluffy, moist and flavor-packed scratch Yellow Cake recipe with you.
Just look at this beautiful Yellow Cake!! Ahhhhh….
Everyone needs a go-to homemade Yellow Cake recipe, and this one deserves a place in your recipe file of favorites. It’s our go-to. This recipe is not only delicious, but it’s so versatile!
This moist scratch yellow cake recipe also works perfectly for yellow cupcakes! The cake layers are very moist and soft, but sturdy enough for fondant, and it makes a great base cake recipe for adding extracts and flavorings.
When we created our popular homemade Marble Cake recipe, we just had to base it on this satisfying yellow cake recipe. So on days when you need a little extra chocolate with your yellow cake, don’t miss our delicious Marble Cake recipe (pictured towards the bottom of this post).
Yellow cake layers are often used in Coconut Cakes as well! This is the yellow cake recipe that we use for our coconut cakes, (plus a little coconut extract.) Heavenly!
Mmmmmm…..
Now let’s talk about frosting.
I can’t think of a frosting that doesn’t taste fantastic with yellow cake, but chocolate buttercream is my personal favorite.
Homemade yellow cake with chocolate buttercream is such a classic combination! I loved scratch yellow cake with chocolate frosting growing up, and still do. We’ve shared our FAVORITE classic chocolate buttercream recipe below.
Like several of our scratch cake recipes from our Recipes Section, this yellow cake recipe uses the reverse creaming method of mixing. If you are unfamiliar with this mixing method, the ingredients are added in a different order than you may be used to.
The result is a tighter crumb, and velvety melt-in-your-mouth texture. The instructions are listed in our recipe below, but if you would like more information on the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing, you may be interested in watching our video!: Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing
We hope that you enjoy this moist and delicious scratch yellow cake as much as we have!
*Special thanks to my Aunt Kay for sharing her mother’s recipe with us that we have all fallen in love with over the years!
Yellow Cake {Scratch Recipe}
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup (242 g) milk
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract (If making a coconut cake, add an additional 1 teaspoon coconut extract)
- 2 Tablespoons (18 g) vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 cups (285 g) cake flour
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons (12 g) baking powder
- 1 1/2 sticks (12 T) (169 g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in the microwave) I cut into 1/2 inch slices onto waxed paper to soften slightly, it should remain cool for good results. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate for 5 minutes
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 inch pans.
- *This recipe uses the Reverse Creaming Method
- In a bowl, combine eggs, milk, flavorings (if making a coconut cake, add an additional teaspoon of coconut), and vegetable oil.
- In the bowl of your mixer, combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
- Whisk the dry ingredients for 30 seconds to combine. With your mixer on low to medium speed, slowly add the pieces of butter, a few pieces at a time. Beat until the dry ingredients are moistened by the butter and look like crumbly coarse sand. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure there is no dry flour. SLOWLY with the mixer on low speed add approximately 1/2 of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients increasing to medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes, the batter will be thick and fluffy. Scrape the bowl and add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, scraping the bowl and beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans 10 minutes then turn out.
- Makes 6 1/2 cups batter
As mentioned above, we are also sharing our FAVORITE Classic Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe! Don’t even think about canned chocolate frosting. I promise, this creamy chocolate buttercream tastes a million times better and is SO easy to make!
Here’s a link to this chocolatey, flavorful, pipeable frosting: Classic Chocolate Buttercream
We love to use this homemade yellow cake recipe as a base of our marble cake. When you can’t decide if you’d rather have yellow cake or chocolate cake, marble cake is the answer!
Find the deliciousness here: Marble Cake Recipe!
Don’t miss our full collection of favorite cake, filling, and frosting recipes in our Recipes Section, and tons of free step by step cake and video tutorials in our Free Cake Tutorials section!
Finally, if you would like to become a member of MyCakeSchool.com, we would love to have you!! Members have access to our entire cake video tutorial library, which includes hundreds of cake video tutorials!
No matter what your cake decorating skill level, there is always something exciting and new to learn! You can find all of the information here: Join MyCakeSchool.com!
Happy Baking!
Hi BeBe,
This cake looks wonderful and I would like to make it for my birthday but I only have a hand mixer could you please give the conventional mixing method for this cake. And does the time or temperature need to adjusted for the conventional method?
Hi Ayanna, A hand mixer can be used with the reverse creaming method, you will just need to mix each step a bit longer. Here is the recipe using the conventional mixing method. It will give you a lighter fluffier texture, hope you enjoy the cake.
Yellow Cake – Conventional Mixing Method
1 1/2 sticks (169g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in microwave)
1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
4 large eggs
2 1/2 cups (285g) cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons (12g) baking powder
1 teaspoon (6g) salt
1 cup (242g) milk
2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons (18g) vegetable oil
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour two 8 inch round cake pans
In a medium bowl, whisk te flour, baking powder and salt for at least 30 seconds to blend. Set aside
In another bowl add the milk, vanilla and oil, whisk to blend. Set aside
In the bowl of your mixer add the butter and mix at medium speed to soften. Add the sugar and continue to mix approximately 3 to 5 minutes or until lightened in color and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
Alternately, add the flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture ( 3 additions of dry and 2 of wet). Mix ingredients in until just blended. Do not mix above medium speed or over mix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let cool in the pans 10 minutes then turn out.
In regards to the above conventional mixing recipe…when do you add the eggs?
Hi John, thanks for pointing that out, I’ve just added to the instructions above. The eggs come right after mixing the butter & sugar.
Do you have to change anything to make it into cupcakes?
Hi Leah, No changes for cupcakes except baking time. Bake at 350 for 18 to 20 minutes. The cupcakes will bake with a very slight dome.
How did you get this recipe to come out so yellow? I made it, but it is very white like a vanilla cake recipe. This recipe tastes incredible but it just wasn’t very “yellow”..
Hello! Can I use the exact measurements if I make a half sheet cake? Thank you in advance!
Hi Korey, We did not add anything extra to make it more yellow. Some brands of butter are more yellow than others, that is the only reason I can think of.
Hi Dez, This recipe makes 6 1/2 cups batter and you will need to double or triple the recipe for a 12×18 half sheet cake. Below are links to two charts with cake batter amount and pan sizes that you will find helpful. The charts vary on amounts for a short or tall layer.
link to wilton.com
link to fromkarenskitchen.com
Made this for my husbands birthday and it was PERFECT! Thank you!
Hi Rachael, Thank you for posting a picture, your cake is lovely!! I’m happy that you like the recipe!
I am using 8″ cake pans and it is about to cook out over the top. I think I should have used 9″ pans? Francie
Hi Francie, Oh, I hope it did not do that! Are your 8 inch cake pans 2 inches deep? If so, that should not have happened. It could be baked in two 9 inch pans or three 8 inch pans, the layers would be a bit shorter but that would be fine.
HI, What if I use al purpose flour instead of Cake flour?
Hi Stuti, If you do not have cake flour, you can use all purpose flour and the following substitution: for each cup of flour in the recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch. For this recipe measure out 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, remove 5 Tablespoons and replace with 5 Tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk to blend.
If you prefer to use the conventional mixing method, I have written it out in a comment made Feb.19, 10:28 in the comment section under the recipe instructions. Hope all goes well.
Hi, i was hoping to use this recipe for a pineapple upside down cake. Do you think it would be okay to replace the milk with pineapple juice?
Hi Hailey, I have not tried that substitution so I am not sure what the outcome would be…. you would be adding a lot of acidity to the recipe.
I have been substituting margarine for the butter but the cupcakes come out flat. Should I leave out the oil? (I have people who cannot have the butter)
Hi Brandy, I am sorry you are having this problem. Fat free or low fat margarine don’t work well in baked products, especially tub margarines. Are you using stick margarine? When creaming margarine and sugar, if it is beaten too fast or too long it can melt and this will affect the texture of your cupcakes and probably the height. I have done very little baking with margarine so I have not experienced the problem you are having. I think it would be fine to leave out the 2 Tablespoons of oil and see if that makes a difference. Also, make sure your baking powder is current. Let me know how it goes when you give it a try. Hope all goes well.
Thank you for your reply. I got it to work! I’m trying to make them dairy free. I use substitute milk, like almond milk, and certain margarine’s are dairy free. Like Blue Bonnet light. Out of all the margarine’s Blue Bonnet bakes best. I omitted all the oil since the margarine is basically oil. The cake flour cheat helps too! Thank you
I baked this today and the flavor was great, but the texture was dense and gummy. I measured everything by weight, and the toothpick test came out good. Not sure what could have gone wrong! I made your chocolate cake that uses the reverse creaming method last week and it was the best chocolate cake I ever made, so I had high hopes for this cake.
Hi Heather, I am sorry that the recipe did not turn out well for you, it is so disappointing when that happens. If there were dense and gummy streaks in your cake layers it is because the batter was mixed at too high a speed, it should not be mixed above medium speed or it was mixed for too long. Do you think that this was a possibility?
It may be. I’m still getting used to my stand mixer. I’m going to try it again but keep it around 4 max instead of 6 (it has 12 settings). Does it matter what attachment I use? I used the paddle and I’m wondering if maybe the whisk would be a better choice.
Hi Heather, You are right to use the paddle attachment. You used the reverse creaming method with the chocolate cake so you are familiar with it but if you would like to watch Melissa’s video on the method here is a link
link to mycakeschool.com
Let me know how it goes on your next try