A classic yellow cake recipe makes an essential cake recipe for any kitchen. Made of simple ingredients, this makes the best yellow cake for every occasion.
There’s just something about a freshly baked cake topped with swirls of chocolate frosting that brings a smile to my face. Usually, it signals a special occasion, such as a birthday or anniversary, a party of some sort, a celebration. But then, there are times that I think that by the end of a hectic week of my son’s classes and long hours studying, my husband working, and all that goes in and out of a week for any family, the weekend is reason enough to celebrate! Those are the times that I pull out this classic yellow cake recipe that is incredibly moist, tender, and perfect every single time. It’s like the little black dress of cakes – but the favorite one in your closet. You know the one? The one that makes you look slimmer, is the most comfortable and you always get compliments when you wear it out? Yes, that’s like this cake.
Made of simple ingredients, this classic yellow cake recipe is easily one of the easiest cakes to make. This one bowl cake can easily be mixed by hand, hand mixer or even a stand mixer, making it a perfect go-to cake recipe. I love that it is also one that my family calls “the best”!
Here’s my Classic Yellow Cake recipe. I hope you love it as much as my family does!
Classic Yellow Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, , softened
- 2 cups (396 g) granulated sugar
- 4 large (200 g) eggs
- 2 large (28 g) egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon (2.6 g) kosher salt
- 3 teaspoons (12 g) baking powder
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (454 g) buttermilk
- 2 1/2 teaspoons (11.75 g) vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare two or three 9-inch round baking pans or a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick baking spray or by coating with butter and lightly flouring, shaking away any excess flour and discarding.
- Cream together butter and sugar until a light yellow in color, about 2-3 minutes. Incorporate eggs one at a time, being sure they are fully incorporated before adding the next. Then, incorporate egg yolks the same.
- Whisk together salt, baking powder, and all-purpose flour in a large mixing bowl. Spoon half of the mixture into the butter, sugar and egg mixture and stir until combined. Add half of buttermilk, then add the remainder of the flour mixture followed by the remainder of the buttermilk. Stir in the vanilla.
- Divide the cake batter between the baking pans or pour into the 9×13 baking sheet pan.
- Bake until the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick or skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes for two 8-inch pans, 30 minutes for two 9-inch pans, and 35 minutes for a 9×13 baking pan. You can follow my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool about 8-10 minutes in the pan placed on a wire cooling rack. Then, turn the cakes out on the cooling rack to cool completely.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
How many cups of batter does this recipe made. I halved the recipe recently as a cupcake taster for an upcoming wedding but I completely forgot to measure out the cups.
Hi Karla,
I’m sorry but I’ve never measured it out in cups. Thank you!
I made this cake for my son’s 28th birthday hoping it would be a great yellow cake. His favorite! Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. I used 2 round 8″ cake pans and needed to bake for over 50 minutes. The sides burnt while the middle was still uncooked. I’ve been a baker for years. Not sure what the problem was. Thought maybe I should have used a rectangle pan but another comment left said hers over flowed. I love baking with buttermilk too. I use it in a delicious chocolate cake recipe and it comes so moist.
Interested it any other comments….
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you Laurene! I know that must be frustrating. I’m not sure what could have happened, as I’ve not had that problem before with this cake. Thank you.
I had a similar problem when trying this recipe, but then the worse was when I went to take them out of the pan, the cake broke to where it was not able to be fixed. Trying it again today.
I, too, wish I had read the comments before baking. I am having the same problem as others with the centers not cooking: with 2 9″ rounds I had to bake for 50 minutes, while watching the sides (and even bits of the top) brown and burn a bit. But the cake wasn’t ruined! The flavor was fantastic, but the cakes were quite dense, not fluffy yellow cake. I would give this recipe another shot though, because the flavor was so good! Anyone figure out why some of us were having this problem with the center not baking?
I had the same problem. Ive made many cakes over the years. This cake rose beautifully but took longer to bake than recipe stated. Sides were pulling away and center not done. Once tester came out clean, i removed from oven..Cakes fell while cooling. Tasted delicious but much more dense than a pound cake. Could I have over mixed or was it too much buttermilk or eggs?
 I am amazed at the number of negative comments about this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and this is by far the best yellowcake ever made. I don’t know what people could have done wrong to yield better results, but everything went perfectly for me. I also use the chocolate buttercream frosting recipe and it was excellent as well.
Was your baking powder fresh?
I’m looking for a yellow cake recipe that i can use to make cream filled cupcakes. The last one I tried was too crumbly and the cupcakes fell apart when a bite was taken. Is this came dense enough to stand up to filling and not crumble?
This recipe is amazing and can certainly hold up to anything! I made it with gluten free flour and it was STILL amazing.
The only thing I did was cut sugar by 1/2 cup because I don’t care for cake so sweet especially when using frosting which is sweet.
Can this be used in cupcakes?
I tried this today its a good recipe but too dense for me.
You say to check that your baking powder and baking soda are fresh, but I don’t see soda in the recipe. Could it have been left out somehow, thereby causing the cake to be dense for the folks making it without? Or could people accidentally be using soda instead of baking powder? BP has a much stronger leavening effect.
is baking soda left off of the recipe? I am making this in a couple of days and I want to be sure
Hi Suzi,
The cake does not include baking soda. I hope you enjoy the cake! Thanks!
Can I substitute a different milk (non-dairy for allergy purposes) for the buttermilk in the recipe (I.e. Almond milk).
IHi I have tried it with lactose free milk but now have a request for almond milk do you think it should be ok?
Can I replace the buttermilk for lactose free covs milk
Hi Abigail,
You can use a lactose free milk. I would recommend adding a bit of vinegar to the milk to make your own homemade buttermilk from the milk.
Is this cake pretty dense? Or is it more on the cumbly side? I wanted to use it for a naked cake and was just wondering!
I made this yesterday with her chocolate buttercream recipe. I made it in a 9×13 pan and it came out VERY dense. Taste is fine, but you almost have to chew it it’s so dense. Also it didn’t turn out very yellow. Also, the frosting recipe was disappointing. It’s, date I say, too chocolate?! Couple people said it tasted like the chocolate milk that didn’t get shaken up and you’re just drinking the bottom.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the cake. I’ve not had this problem with the cake OR the frosting, so can’t be sure what happened. Thanks!
Dense cake issues are normally a result of over mixing as it created too much gluten development in the flour. This results in a chewy cake. Mixers(electric ) tend to do this VERY easily. If you are not mixing by hand, use the lowest setting of your mixer, almost pulse and scrape down the bowl until ingredients are JUST combined. Hope it helps.
Thanks Lindsey! Great tips!
This cake didn’t fit in a 9X13 pan for me. It spilled all over the place. I was very disappointed.
I’m so sorry that it spilled out of your pan. I’ve not had that happen to me, so I’m not sure what could have happened. Thanks!
Hi Robyn!
I did add a four hour a cup of flour because I live in Colorado. Not sure if that had anything to to do with it. Even though it spilled my over, the cake still tasted delicious!
Whoops…I meant a fourth a cup of flour!
Do you mean cake flour or is there a certain kind of all purpose flour? Thanks so much in advance.
Just regular flour