Best White Cake
This is by far the best white cake recipe I’ve ever made. Of all the scratch cake recipes out there, it seems that a good white cake is among the most challenging to pull off well. While varieties like yellow, spice, carrot and especially chocolate are quite simple even for the novice baker, white cake poses a forever problem. Too often they bake into dry, tasteless bricks destined for the garbage. They often fail to maintain a decent shelf life and their texture is often full of big holes. This white cake recipe however is the best I’ve ever baked, and I am so happy to share it with you!
What Ingredients do I Need?
- Cake flour (or an all purpose flour/cornstarch mix)
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Butter
- Shortening
- Egg whites
- Milk
- Vanilla
What’s the Difference Between Vanilla Cake and White Cake?
The only real difference between vanilla cake and white cake is the hue. White cake is very white in appearance and a vanilla cake tends to look slightly more yellowish. This is because vanilla cakes call for whole eggs while white cakes only call for the whites. Additionally, yellow cakes use butter while white cakes use shortening. As for their flavours, there is very little difference other than vanilla cakes may be a little tastier.
So why do bakers create white cakes? The true origins of white cake is somewhat unknown, but food historians believe it dates back to the Victorian era when white symbolized purity and possibly wealth. This is why so many wedding cakes tend to be white. If you’d like to read more about this, then check out this interesting article from Reader’s Digest about wedding cake history.
Why is This the Best White Cake Recipe?
In my opinion, this white cake recipe scores the highest for a few reasons. Firstly, it is an easy one bowl process. This is because it uses the reverse creaming method. This means that rather than creaming the butter and sugar together before adding the rest of the ingredients in intervals, all ingredients follow one after the other into the same bowl without having to use a separate bowl for the dry ingredients. Cakes made this way are lighter and more velvety, giving them a melt in your mouth texture.
Also, because you sift the dry ingredients 3 times, it turns out super light and airy. And because it uses half butter and half shortening, it is flavourful and well structured at the same time. And with 3 teaspoons of vanilla in the batter, it packs a huge vanilla punch that is unbeaten. Last but not least, when properly protected it stays moist at room temperature for days and actually tends to taste better.
What’s the Best Way to Store Leftovers?
For best results, do not refrigerate leftovers of this cake unless it is frosted or filled with something perishable like a custard or cream cheese based filling/frosting. Because its base is butter and shortening, this cake will harden and become dry when refrigerated, so room temperature is best. To prevent drying, cover the exposed cake with a layer of plastic so it is completely touching the surface. Additionally, cover the entire cake with a cake dome or similar cover. It will keep on the counter this way for 4-5 days.
Tips for Baking the Best White Cake
- Use light coloured cake pans. If you bake your cakes in dark pans, they will conduct more heat and cook the cake too fast from the outside. This can result in drier cakes. So swap out your dark pans for lighter coloured stainless steel ones to bake softer, fluffier cakes.
- Use room temperature ingredients. If your butter, shortening, egg whites and milk are cold from the fridge, your cake batter might not incorporate nicely and appear curdled. This can bake into an unevenly textured cake full of greasy spots. It can also prevent the cake from baking evenly as the center will remain cold while the outside bakes too fast.
- Measure your ingredients by weight, not volume. In other words, use a scale to measure everything in grams. If you simply measure using cups (by volume), you may not add the proper amounts of everything and end up with poor results.
- Use cake flour. It has less protein which means your cake will not develop gluten which can deliver a rubbery, dry cake. If you don’t have cake flour, use the all purpose/cornstarch mix stated in the recipe.
- Sift the ingredients 3 times. Do not skip this step! It really aerates the dry ingredients which always results in a lighter cake.
- Do not overbake! Even though this one is obvious, baking a white cake even a little too long can result in a dry cake. So start checking for doneness at the 28 minute mark.
If you’ve been wanting to bake the white cake of your dreams but you never could, I really hope this one will help you out for your next birthday or other special occasion. It’s the go to vanilla/white cake recipe in my house even for a weeknight dessert. I wish you the best results! And if you do give it a try, please rate the recipe and let us know how it turned out for you!
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Best White Cake
Ingredients
WHITE CAKE
- 2½ cups all purpose flour 300g
- ¼ cup cornstarch 28g
- 1½ cups sugar 300g
- 3 teaspoons baking powder 20g
- 1 teaspoon salt 10g
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, soft 75g
- ⅓ cup shortening, soft 75g
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup milk 250ml
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
- 1 cup unsalted butter, soft 250g
- 3-4 cups confectioner's sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon boiling water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon almond extract optional
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE
- Grease two 8 inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper circles cut to fit the pans. Or simply grease well and sprinkle with flour. Preheat oven to 350℉/177℃.
- In a large bowl combine all purpose flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using 2 sheets of parchment paper, sift these dry ingredients 3 times. Return to bowl.
- Using an electric beater or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat in the butter and shortening for about 2-3 minutes. The mixture should look sandy with no large chunks of butter or shortening. Use your fingers to break down any pieces that are not incorporating well.
- Next add egg whites. Combine the milk and vanilla together in a measuring cup and add half of this mixture with the egg whites. Beat for 1 minute or until the mixture begins to look smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to incorporate everything well. Add remaining milk and vanilla mixture and beat another 30-60 seconds or until smooth.
- Divide batter evenly among pans. Bake 32-35 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. A toothpick inserted should also come out clean. Cool cakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes before removing. Peel off parchment paper from bottoms, if used. Cool cakes on racks completely before frosting.
FOR THE FROSTING
- In a large mixing bowl using an electric beater or paddle attachment in a stand mixer, combine butter, 2 cups of the confectioner's sugar and salt. Beat on low speed, scraping sides of bowl as necessary to mix in all the sugar.
- Gradually add in more confectioner's sugar, half cup at a time, continuing to scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary. Once the frosting begins to take on a fairly firm spreading consistency, increase speed to medium and begin drizzling in the boiling water one tablespoon at a time. This will loosen the frosting and give it a very creamy consistency. You may not need the entire amount of boiling water called for, only enough so the frosting is very creamy and spreadable. Do not add too much or the frosting may curdle.
- Add vanilla and almond extracts (if using almond too). Beat well until fully incorporated and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Frosting is ready to use. If you make it ahead of time, be sure to whip the frosting with the electric beater or by hand to smooth out any air pockets that have formed.