White Almond Sour Cream Cake

Name: White Almond Sour Cream Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 80 min
Ingredients: 3 Large eggs, room temperature ((If in a hurry, place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)); 2 tsp. vanilla extract ((8g)); 1 tsp. almond extract ((4g)); 1/3 c milk ((73g)); 1 cup sour cream ((242g)); 2 1/2 c cake flour ((285g)); 1 1/2 c granulated sugar ((300g)); 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder ((12g)); 1/2 teaspoon salt ((3g)); 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened

How to Make White Almond Sour Cream Cake

This delicious scratch White Almond Sour Cream Cake is a creamy and flavorful cake, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

This is thanks in part to the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing, which calls ingredients to be added in a different order than the traditional creaming method. The result is a slightly dense, velvety soft cake (as with our chocolate cake from scratch and orange dreamsicle cake).

You can find the full white almond sour cream cake recipe below, but here is a quick look at our steps!

First, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch pans.

In a small bowl, combine eggs, vanilla, almond extract, milk, & sour cream. Whisk until blended & set aside.

Mix the dry ingredients (cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt) in the mixer for 30 seconds so the baking powder and salt will be well incorporated into the flour and sugar.

Slowly add the pieces of butter a few at a time while the mixer is on medium speed. Beat for approximately 1 minute or until the dry ingredients are crumbly and moistened by the butter, giving it the look of coarse sand. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl.

Next, slowly add approx. half of the egg mixture with the mixer on very low speed then increasing to medium speed for 1½ minutes. The batter will be thick and fluffy. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in two pourings, scraping the bowl and beating for 20 seconds after each addition.

Divide the cake batter between the prepared cake pans.

Finally, bake the cake layers at 350 degrees F for 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 7 cups batter

Recipe FAQs

You will notice in the photo that the white almond sour cream 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 the cake a soft yellow shade. The egg yolks and butter add richness and flavor to the recipe, and so we do not mind the yellow crumb.

If you'd like to try a cake that is lighter in color, don't miss our delicious White Velvet Cake! It contains cream cheese which adds richness and seems to lighten the color as well! Our scratch White Cake is another great option too!

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! You can substitute additional vanilla for the almond extract if you'd like!

This White Almond Sour Cream Cake is amazing with so many different fillings and frostings. It is hard to pick a favorite! 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 and Glazes category of our Recipes section. Here are a few more ideas:

Yes! Just as with most of our cake recipes, from orange cake to lemon cake, pound cake, and more, these white almond sour cream layers freeze beautifully. Make life easier and work well in advance! They will stay fresh in the freezer for up to three months.

Once your cake layers have cooled (or almost cooled completely), wrap each layer individually in plastic wrap followed by foil. For more stability, we often freeze each layer on a foil-wrapped cardboard cake circle before wrapping. Into the freezer they go!

To Thaw: Move the wrapped layers from the freezer to the kitchen counter. Allow to sit, still wrapped, on the counter for 30-45 minutes before unwrapping. Thaw to desired amount for assembling the cake. (Some bakers like to assemble their cake layers while still partially frozen as they are less fragile.).

Sour cream adds a wonderful richness to cakes and it also enhances the texture. The boost of acidity softens strands of gluten in the cake batter, making for a more tender cake.

Some of our other favorite cakes that call for sour cream are: Chocolate Bundt Cake, Orange Dreamsicle Cake, Chocolate Cake from Scratch, and Pumpkin Spice Cake!

Amazing White Almond Sour Cream Cake Recipe from Scratch! Super moist and delicious! My Cake School Cake Recipes, Cake Tutorials, and More!

More Cakes with Almond Flavor

We've made several almond cakes over the years! While this White Almond Sour Cream Cake has a light almond flavor, others like our popular Almond Cake recipe have a rich almond flavor.

Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy this recipe. Make sure to check out our full collection of Vanilla Cakes (which also includes yellow cakes and white cakes)!

Keep this White Almond Sour Cream cake in mind the next time you need a birthday cake recipe, potluck dessert, bridal or baby shower cake, holiday cake recipe, and more.

We have hundreds more cake recipes and free cake decorating tutorials to share with you!

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

316 Comments

BeBe says:

February 28, 2019 at 3:25 pm

Hi Carmel, I have not tried that but I think it should work. Our scratch lemon cake in the recipe section has no vanilla extract so I would leave out the vanilla and almond in this recipe and add 2 teaspoons lemon extract and also add the zest of 1 lemon. It is best to use a microplane to zest the lemon. Our lemon scratch recipe uses 1 Tablespoon lemon extract but it has 3 cups flour so I think you will be fine with just 2 teaspoons. It also has lemon juice but I don't think you need to add that. We have tried making a lemon cake with just lemon juice but the lemon flavor was just not there. Hope all goes well.

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Isabel Carter says:

March 1, 2019 at 10:39 pm

Would this cake freeze well? I want an almond cake for my wedding and it needs to be able to be made in advance and stay moist. Also, could I substitute part of the flour with almond meal?

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BeBe says:

March 1, 2019 at 11:22 pm

Hi Isabel, Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Yes, the cake layers can be frozen. While the layers are still warm from the oven, wrap each layer individually in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil, then freeze. Wrapping them will keep them airtight while frozen. To thaw, remove from the freezer, when condensation forms on top of the aluminum foil, unwrap and let them continue to thaw. You can crumb coat while the layers are partially frozen, if you like. I have never tried using almond meal so I don't know if you would have a good result.

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ReseachMom says:

May 10, 2019 at 2:39 pm

Thank you so much! Melt in your mouth, moist dense cake. I will be checking out your site again!

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Sharon Thompson says:

May 19, 2019 at 3:36 am

I live in the UK where we don’t have cake flour. Is there a substitute please?

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BeBe says:

May 19, 2019 at 10:45 pm

Hi Sharon, I understand in the UK you use plain flour. To make a substitute do the following: for each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour in the UK) whisk to blend. For this recipe, measure out 2 1/2 cups plain flour and remove 5 Tablespoon. Replace with 5 Tablespoons corn flour and whisk to blend.

If you are not familiar with the Reverse Creaming method that this recipe uses, here is a link to the conventional mixing method.

https://www.mycakeschool.com/images/2015/11/White-Almond-Sour-Cream-Cake-.pdf

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Tina Vlahos says:

September 23, 2019 at 6:47 pm

I made this cake and it was ahhmazing! It was light and moist. I substituted the milk with buttermilk. It’s my new go-to white cake recipe. Thank you for sharing all of your great recipes Sally!

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REGINA ANDERSON says:

October 8, 2019 at 11:27 pm

Hi was wondering if I could turn White Almond Sour Cream Cake into a sour cream pound cake.

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BeBe says:

October 9, 2019 at 1:51 pm

Hi Regina, The recipe should work fine in a bundt pan. We have not baked as a pound cake so I am not sure of the time so keep an eye on it. If you are baking in a pan that has a dark interior, lower the temperature to 325 degrees. If you are not familiar to the reverse creaming method, Melissa has a link to a video in the intro to this method. There is also a link to using the conventional mixing method if you would rather use that.

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Regina Anderson says:

October 11, 2019 at 9:59 am

Thank BeBe

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Rachel says:

October 28, 2019 at 2:22 am

Hi Bebe and Melissa,
Love your site! I also love that you have started posting recipes using the reverse creaming method, because I think it produces consistently better cakes - I love the tight velvety crumb and I never worry about those pesky “tunnels” you can get from overbeating the batter using the traditional method.
I just wanted to mention that if you substitute a portion of the butter with coconut oil (which at room temperature (~70°) has a creamy consistency very similar to shortening), the cake will appear more white. And it also gives the cake a delicious boost of flavor - not at all “coconuty” - just delicious!

Cheers,
Rachel

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BeBe says:

October 28, 2019 at 8:13 pm

Hi Rachel, That is good to know, thanks so much for posting that information. I am sure many will find it helpful.

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