Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram These days, I tend to view all carbs as equal. Pasta is basically cookies. Bread is kind of the same as cake. You can choose to eat a dinner roll, but just know that it’s basically dessert. This is a bit extreme and ridiculous I know, but I think it’s my weird brain’s way of putting limits on the carbs in my life. The unfortunate development after all this brainwashing is that these days, I sometimes skip out on regular mealtime foods, because I know I’m going to eat brownies later, whether or not I eat the real food. Do you see the slippery slope?? He meant it as an offering, a service. You see, I’ve been testing white cake recipes for weeks now, and I’ve been shoving off white cake to every single human who passes the threshold of this house, and even those who don’t. I beg Eric to take the rest to work. I yell at my mail lady as she fills our box. I call over my neighbors. I chase down my friends who are doing carpool drop off. “WAIT, DO YOU WANT SOME CAKE?” You might be thinking, who even likes white cake? I mean isn’t chocolate always better? WRONG SIR. White cake from a box destroyed my opinion of white cake, but I’m telling you guys, one bite of this from-scratch version will have you shouting hallelujah. It is moist, tender, and perfectly fluffy. The vanilla flavor really comes through. It’s a winner! *Cheater buttermilk will do just fine! I tried it. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar to a 1 cup measuring cup, then fill it to the 1 cup mark with milk. Use the highest fat content milk you have; whole milk is best. Stir it together and let sit a couple minutes to thicken up.
Butter. You can use unsalted butter, but you may want to add another pinch of salt to the recipe. To soften butter, remove the butter from the wrapper and place it on a small plate. Put in the microwave for 30-40 seconds on power level one. Don’t use full power! Your butter will melt! Powdered sugar. Sift the powdered sugar if it looks extra clumpy (I usually don’t bother) Heavy cream. *Feel free to use whole milk or whatever milk you have on hand. It won’t be quite as thick and creamy but it will work. Kosher salt. A flaky salt that absorbs moisture. To substitute table salt instead of kosher salt, use ½ table salt for every 1 teaspoons of kosher salt called for in the recipe. Vanilla
½ tablespoon almond extract 1 tablespoon citrus zest ½ tablespoon butter extract
We’re going to beat the heck out of some butter and sugar (left). Then we’re going to add a bit of oil. I love using oil in my cakes. You need the butter for flavor, but you’re not going to get that soft moist texture without a bit of oil. Your cake will be dry if you use all butter. I like to use light olive oil (see notes), but any vegetable oil will work. Grab two other medium bowls, one for dry and one for wet ingredients. On the left we have 5 whole eggs*, buttermilk (cheater buttermilk works fine! See notes) a bit of vanilla, and sour cream. Sour cream and I are like THIS when it comes to cake. I just love the tender moistness it adds. (When I do make box cakes, I always add sour cream. It works wonders.) On the right, sift some flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients ONLY until just combined. Don’t over-stir. *See below for a whole conversation on why some white-cake bakers will literally kill me for putting egg yolks into this white cake recipe. But it tastes better. (It does, okay?) Line the bottom of two 9-inch pans with parchment paper, then spray the heck out of it. I can’t tell you how many cakes I’ve destroyed by forgetting parchment paper. I think it’s especially helpful if you have cheap cake pans, which apparently I do (more on that below). Bake the cakes at 325 for about 28-32 minutes. I like to bake my cakes one at a time because my oven is not exactly amazing. I’ve done 2 cakes at a time, but I wouldn’t do all 3 cakes at once, unless you have a pretty stellar oven that you trust. Rotate each cake 2/3 of the way through the bake time. This means turn the pan 180 degrees if there is one cake, or if there are two cakes, switch their places. The cake pans should NOT touch the edge of the oven. Do NOT open the oven door at all, except for when you need to rotate the pans. Rotate the pans at about the 22 minute mark. If the whole top looks completely liquidy, do not rotate yet. You don’t want to deflate your cake. Again, the total bake time for each cake is about 28-32 minutes. Remove the cake/s from the oven. Let cool on a cooling rack for about 10-15 minutes. Use a knife to loosen the edge of the cake from the pan. Use your hand to invert the cake onto the cooling rack and continue cooling. At this point I often put them in the freezer for 20 minutes or so to speed up the cool time. If you look at the photo above of the layered cakes before I frosted them, you will see how torn up the outside edges are on the bottom two. This is because my cake pans are garbage apparently. I grabbed a new $6 one at the grocery store the 3rd time I made this cake, because I was tired of having to wait to bake my third cake (I only had 2 pans.) And that $6 cake pan did a way better job releasing my cake intact. You can see the top cake in that photo is perfectly intact. So the point is that high quality cake pans are actually important. (Or at least $6 grocery store ones are?? ha. That’s going to be a gamble.) I just bought these USA brand pans. My mother-in-law Kris swears by USA pans. And well, if Kris trusts it, then you all know that we should too ;) UPDATE: I’ve been using the USA pans for years now and they are phenomenal.) I put measurements in the notes for a more reasonable amount that will do the job just fine if you are not a frosting fanatic like me. (If you plan to do a crust coat, make the full amount.) If by some miracle you happen to have leftover cake you don’t know what to do with, you can freeze individual slices or as much of the whole cake as you like. Let it defrost at room temperature (or in the fridge if you prefer). The frosted cake really does freeze well so don’t be afraid to save some for the next time you have a wicked cake craving and no time to bake. I think this homemade white cake recipe would be stunning to serve after your holiday festivities! Dress up the top and edges with some fresh berries for a stunning presentation. Everyone will love you!! P.S. Update: Eric’s book club did not see any of this cake. I made them brownies instead. ;)
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