You’ve officially found the BEST Yellow Cake Recipe on the internet! My version is incredibly moist and SO easy with just one bowl (and no mixer!). Recipe includes a how-to video!
The BEST Yellow Cake Recipe
If you’ve been on the hunt for a good recipe for yellow cake, it’s time to call off the search. My yellow cake is soft, plush, has a fine light crumb, and is moist enough to melt in your mouth. It’s perfectly balanced with just the right amount of sweetness and vanilla flavor, and it’s SO easy to make (one bowl and no mixer!). Every box is checked with this one! ✅
This recipe is made similarly to my chocolate cake; it’s not traditional creaming and it’s not quite reverse creaming but is more similar to that method – only easier. Because of this method there is low risk of over-mixing (but it’s not impossible!). It’s great for beginner bakers and even easier than my vanilla cake.
Recently I’ve actually been favoring this cake over my vanilla recipe (though both are simple and delicious, this one is just fun and new for me!). You can even make this cake into cupcakes as I demonstrated earlier this week with my chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream post (I actually like them better than my classic vanilla cupcake recipe! 🤯).
What makes my recipe the best:
- A true one-bowl recipe 💛
- Incredibly moist and perfectly yellow without food coloring!
- Pairs well with pretty much any frosting, but chocolate fudge frosting is my personal favorite.
- NO mixer required (thanks to melted butter!).
- Can handle sprinkles for a bit of funfetti flair.
What You Need
Several carefully selected ingredients make this the best yellow cake recipe out there:
- Butter. I really recommend using European butter if you can; it will provide the best yellow color and flavor. If you can’t find that, regular butter will still work just fine!
- Oil. Using oil and butter makes for the most flavorful AND moist cake! I like to use canola oil.
- Cake flour. Cake flour provides the best crumb, though all-purpose can be substituted in a pinch (instructions below!). Make sure you know how to measure flour properly, or you could risk drying out this super moist cake.
- Eggs + egg yolks. Extra egg yolks add moisture, tenderness, and a beautiful yellow color.
- Sour cream. Where my vanilla cake uses buttermilk, this cake uses sour cream. While the two are similar, sour cream is a bit richer, which is exactly what this cake needs!
SAM’S TIP: This yellow cake recipe has a tendency to dome, so you will have to level your cakes before frosting. Do this after the cake has fully cooled!
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make It
- Combine the dry ingredients and sugar in a bowl, then stir in the melted butter and oil.
- Add the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla and stir until fully combined.
- Add the milk and stir until the batter is fully cohesive/uniform.
- Pour into your prepared cake pans and bake for 32-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist/fudgy crumbs.
- Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10-15 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, level your cakes if needed. I find this cake tends to dome a bit and always need to level it — I’ll link to my leveler in the recipe card if you’re in need of one!
- Place one layer on your serving tray and top with frosting.
- Add another layer, top with frosting, and enjoy!
SAM’S TIP: If you notice holes/tunnels in your cake when you level it, don’t panic! You may have just mixed it a tad too much. Don’t worry, with this cake (unlike many others!) you usually can’t tell in the final texture or when you go to cut into it–it’s very forgiving! I was a bit too vigorous in my video trying to show how this yellow cake recipe can’t really be over-mixed that I left mine with tunnels, but the end result was still delicious melt-in-your-mouth perfection.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is not too much difference between a classic vanilla cake and a yellow cake, but since I’ve had readers specifically ask me for a recipe for yellow cake, I wanted to make one.
Compared to my vanilla cake recipe, my yellow cake recipe has a tighter crumb, a more intense yellow color (thanks to extra egg yolks and European butter), and uses more butter than oil. If you love my vanilla cake, definitely give this one a try!
You can, but keep in mind that cake flour will provide the best texture here. I include instructions for substituting all-purpose flour in the recipe notes.
My yellow cake recipe is designed to be incredibly moist, so if yours is dry, a mistake was most definitely made. The most likely reason is over-baking the cake (make sure your oven isn’t running hotter than it lets on!) or over-measuring your flour; I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients to avoid this.
After so many reader requests for a recipe for yellow cake, I can’t wait to hear what you think about this one!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Yellow Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups (335 g) cake flour
- 2 ¼ cups (450 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ tsp table salt
- 12 Tablespoons (177 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until no longer warm to the touch see note
- ½ cup (118 ml) vegetable oil
- 1 cup (226 g) sour cream
- 2 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup (118 ml) whole milk
- 1 batch chocolate fudge frosting
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C), grease two 8” round pans with baking spray and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk well to combine.3 cups (335 g) cake flour, 2 ¼ cups (450 g) granulated sugar, 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ tsp table salt
- Add melted butter and vegetable oil and stir well until thoroughly combined.12 Tablespoons (177 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until no longer warm to the touch, ½ cup (118 ml) vegetable oil
- Add sour cream, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla extract and stir well.1 cup (226 g) sour cream, 2 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Stir in milk until completely combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula and stir again to ensure the batter is uniform.½ cup (118 ml) whole milk
- Divide into prepared 8” pans, and bake on 350F for 40 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched and a, toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs (not wet batter).
- Cool cakes in their pans for 10-15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides to loosen from the pan and carefully invert onto a cooling rack (don’t forget to remove the parchment bottoms) and allow to cool completely before decorating.
- These cakes typically bake up with a dome so I recommend leveling with a cake leveler (linked in equipment section above) or serrated knife before decorating.
- Decorate using desired frosting. I like to use my chocolate swiss meringue buttercream or chocolate fudge frosting.1 batch chocolate fudge frosting
Notes
Flour
Cake flour is best/recommended for this recipe, it yields the lightest, most tender crumb. However, you may substitute all-purpose flour in a pinch – you’ll need 2 ⅔ cup (335g)Butter
For a richer yellow color, I recommend using European-style butter if you can find it. It will also make the cake a bit more moist and tender. However, if you can’t find this style of butter or don’t have any on hand, don’t worry, regular butter will work just fine and I often make my yellow cake with regular butter, too!Storing
Cakes can be made a day in advance, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and stored at room temperature for 24 hours before assembling. Cakes may also be tightly wrapped and frozen for several weeks before or after assembly. Once cake is assembled, store at room temperature for up to three days in an airtight container (assuming your frosting can withstand room temperature for this long) or in the refrigerator for up to a week (note that the refrigerator will dry out the cake some).Cupcakes
This recipe will make approximately 31 cupcakes. Fill liners ⅔-¾ full and they will need to bake 17-19 minutes on 350F (175C).Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Beth
this recipe looks amazing. how much batter and cook time would I need for 12 inch circle pans instead?
Sam
Hi Beth! I believe this recipe would fill one 12 inch pan, but I’m not sure on a bake time. It would certainly be increased. 🙂
Bryanna
Hi Sam,
I love your recipes so much! They’re easy to follow and always turn out awesome.
Can the 1/2 cup of whole milk be substituted for buttermilk?
Sam
Hi Bryanna! I think if that’s all I had on hand, then I would try it. Let me know how it goes if you do try it. 🙂
Kathee Giannini
Hi Sam,
I asked you a while ago about making this yellow cake recipe in 2-10 inch pans. You were so kind enough to take the time to answer me. Well, I made it and it was FANTASTIC! So YUMMY..
Thank you
Kathee
Sam
I’m so glad it turned out! 🙂
Claudia
Use an electric mixer when combining the ingredients. A whisk does not do an adequate job. Also recipe calls for 40 minutes of bake time…should be more like 32 -35 minutes. I should have watched the video before I made this cake. Mine came out a little overdone. I’ll make it again using the instructions on the video.
Cara
Made this BUTTER cake, yes, I changed the name, lol, again today and it did not disappoint! I typically use 9” pans but today I used 8” per the recipe and they baked up in exactly 40 min. I always use baking strips and this recipe yields perfectly flat layers with no need to level. This is my goto yellow cake recipe♥️♥️♥️. Thanks again for sharing!
Kathee Giannini
Hi Sam,
I love how you write your recipes…they are so easy to follow. . I am going to make your yellow cake recipe, but need it to serve 25 (ladies), so I am going to use 2-10×2” pans. Should I double the recipe or make one recipe and put it in one pan, then make it again and put it in the other pan?
Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes.
Warm Regards,
Kathee
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kathee! You will need to 1.5 the recipe to fill your pans. No need to make separate batches, you should be fine to make it in one. Enjoy!
Denise Johnson
Super delicious!! My family really enjoyed. Thank you
Sam
That’s great news! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Denise! 🙂
Katherine Campbell
What just happened. This is seriously the best recipe. I just made this cake and can’t believe how good it is.
Thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Katherine! 🙂
Kelly W
The cake itself is moist and light. However, there is something wonky here because the top browns and gets crispy when the cake is actually baked. My oven temperature is accurate and I can only get successful results if I turn the oven down to 325 after 15 minutes into the baking time. The confetti and white cake recipes are always perfect. I will stick with those! Your recipes are always great. Thanks ☺️
Jessica
My convection oven was recently fixed and it’s cooking much closer to the temperature on the dial and it never used to. Now my cake is browning quite a bit on the edges and on the top but slightly raw in the middle. What would you recommend I do! I don’t do have a conventional oven and I believe that’s what you’re using.
Sam
Hi Jessica! Silly question, but are you adjusting your temperature for the convection oven? I would probably just reduce the temperature a little bit to counter this issue. I hope this helps. 🙂
Carol
Easy!! Light!! Moist!! I live everything about this cake!! I used a Fat Daddio pan and my edge around the top was a little crunchy. Next time I will try the cake strips.
Sam
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Carol! I may just need a minute or two less in the oven. 🙂
Tenishia Turtin
I surprised myself making my first ever cake from scratch and chocolate frosting from scratch as well. The cake is amazing and yes super moist and tender, I did use a hand mixer for a minute Orr two to get out the lumps that I couldn’t get out by hand but this recipe is a keeper. Thank you!😋
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Tenishia! 🙂
William Kite
I made this recipe exactly as laid out. However even after 35mins the centers were sunk and soupy. I ended up having to cover with foil and bake an additional 15mins to achieve a done center. Reading the reviews it seems several others have had to extend bake time and their cake sunk instead of domed up. Any thoughts? Thanks
Sam
Hi William, I retested this recipe again based on your comment today and it did indeed end up needing to bake for 40 minutes so I have updated the recipe to reflect this. I Hope this helps, thank you for your feedback I appreciate it.
William Kite
What temperature were the eggs, milk, and sour cream? Just curious if you pulled straight from the fridge or allowed to acclimate to room temperature. Thanks
Sam
My ingredients are all room temp 🙂
PJ Tomlian
Hello Sugar Spun! I wondered if anyone has done this yellow cake recipe in 9″ round pans? I thought using the 9″ the cake would not take as long to bake, but it definitely need 35+ minutes! My tops did not dome, were actually nice and flat but I did use Wilton cake strips around the pans. I was a little worried when I put the batter in the pans that it would rise over the tops – but eventually it receded, and in fact, is the tallest two layer cake I’ve ever done.
Sam
I have not had anyone try it in a 9 inch pan. I’m glad they turned out. You should have a reduced baking time, but as long as it turn out for you, that’s all that matters. Everyone’s kitchen and oven is slightly different. 🙂
Janet Marie Long
Sam, I wondered if this cake recipe could be used for a 9 by 13 inch pan and if so what would you recommend for baking time. I need a cake to bring to a church function this week. Thank you, Janet Long
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Janet! This recipe can be baked in a 9×13, but we aren’t sure on a bake time. We’d recommend you keep an eye on it and use the toothpick test to check for doneness. Enjoy!
Carol B.
I used this recipe as written in the past and it was perfectly moist with a nice crumb.
I was wondering if I could double the recipe to bake in a 3 8”x 3” pans. Or would it be better to mix each batch separately?
Thanks for a great recipe!
Carol
Sam
Hi Carol! You can certainly double the recipe, you will just want to be careful to not over-mix the batter. 🙂