The Best Classic Yellow Cake Recipe
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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
Equipment
- 2-3 cake pans
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 by brushing with homemade cake goop (cake pan release) 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
Hi, I made this cake yesterday for my son’s birthday. It is delicious but the cake is very dense, almost like a pound cake. It does not look like your picture! Where dI’d I go wrong? Maybe I didn’t mix it enough or its underdone. What do you think? Thanks! Our family loves yellow cake with chocolate frosting.
How long would you cook thiscake for cupcakes and how many apx would you be able to make ?
I MADE THIS YELLOW CAKE RECIPE TODAY AND I MADE CUPCAKES INSTEAD OF THE CAKE. YES YOU CAN MAKE CUPCAKES, DEPENDING ON YOUR OVEN IT WILL TAKE 18 TO 24 MINUTES TO BAKE. MINE WERE DONE IN 18 MINUTES AND THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL AND DELICIOUS.
Is it cool to use cake flour? Can I make cupcakes with this recipe? And to half, do I literally half everything??
Cake flour definitely helps with consistency of texture. You can make cupcakes around 18 minutes bake time. And if you want half a recipe have a cacalculator handy since you do cut every ingredient quantity in half.
How much does one cup, 16 tablespoons, weigh?
Either grams or ounces please. Thanks in advance.
its 2 sticks of butter or 8 oz
Hi Kevin are you asking for fluid ounce? Whether its solid or fluid makes a big difference. One cup in terms of baking is six ounces tho I will function from the standpoint that my cup of flour is 8 (it is 6 righfully). 16 teaspoons turns out ad an infinite decimal of 2.666 fl ounce but it would be different for solid ingredients. In a nutshell if its converted back it would be 1.25 cups a 1/2 tsp.
I made your Best Classic Yellow Cake recipe this past weekend for my friend’s birthday cake. I used your Chocolate Frosting recipe, too. It turned out perfectly, and it looked just like your photo except that I cut the recipe in half, making only one layer, since there were only three of us. The only other change I made was using cake flour instead of all purpose. We were dazzled by how tender and light the cake was and how deeply rich and chocolate the frosting was. This is now my go-to yellow cake with chocolate frosting recipe. Thank you for posting it.
I made this cake a few days ago and it was so surprisingly good. It is my new go to recipe for yellow cake. Incredibly moist and tender and the acidity from the buttermilk was perfection against the Swiss meringue buttercream I used. I did substitute cake flour for all purpose. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Richard!
I used this recipe to build a Clash of Clans birthday cake for my son. Wow, best yellow cake flavor & texture ever. Mine was plenty yellow, with good eggs & butter in it. The texture was just what I needed for the cake build. Boxed mixes aren’t sturdy enough for the weight of the fondant. Moist, good crumb, a new staple at my house!
I’m so glad you loved this yellow cake recipe, Mary! Happy birthday to your son!!!
I made this cake yesterday. The Icing was to die for although I had a problem with the cake. I followed the recipe to the letter but my cake was flat? Do you think the baking powder I was using wasn’t good any longer?
I’m looking for a good yellow cucpake recipe. Could this be it? Does this do well as a cupcake?
What frosting did you use for this yellow cake?
The recipe for the frosting will pop up when you click on the words “chocolate frosting” in the first sentence of the introduction.
Butter, egg white, vanilla and powdered sugar.