Best Yellow Cake Recipe

5 from 3 votes

This Yellow Buttermilk Cake has a light texture, golden crust and stays moist for days, is easily scaled up, and accepts any number of fillings. It is also one of the easiest cakes and should be in everyone's baking repertoire.

Prep Time15

Cook Time20

Total Time35

Course: Cake

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Buttermilk Cake, Easy Yellow Buttermilk Cake, Yellow Cake

Servings: servings

Calories: 261kcal

Author: Helen S. Fletcher

Ingredients

6 large egg yolks (100 grams)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour (300 grams)
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar (300 grams)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter (170 grams or 1 1/2 sticks)

Instructions

For the flatest cake layers, spray the center only of 9" pans with a non-stick baking release, line the bottom of the cake pans with parchment paper and spray the center only with the spray. DO NOT SPRAY THE SIDES OR OTHERWISE PREPARE THE PAN. See Cake Pan Prep for detailed information..
The butter must be very soft, but not runny in anyway. A temperature of of about 75℉ to 77℉ should do it.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk the yolks, one fourth of the buttermilk and vanilla in a bowl. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix briefly to blend. Add the butter and the remaining buttermilk. Mix on low until the ingredients are moistened, then raise to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Scrape down.
Add the egg yolk mixture in thirds, beating about 30 seconds after each addition. Scrape down between additions. Divide into the desired number of layers or cupcakes.
2 layers = 540 grams each . Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. They are about 1 1/2" tall.
3 layers = 360 grams each. Bake for 18 to 21 minutes. They are about 1" tall.
4 layers = 270 grams each. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. They are about 2/3" tall.
25 to 30 regular size cupcakes with a #16 scoop, well scraped off. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
Bake as called for or until a tester comes out clean or it springs back when the center is lightly touched. The cake should not pull away from the sides of the pans.
Cool in pans, release and use as desired.
The batter weighs approximately 1080 grams.

Notes

There is always an abundance of photos to guide you in the post above.

As always, I recommend using a scale for accuracy and consistency. Flour, in particular, is difficult to measure by volume. For my recipes, I use 140 grams per cup of unsifted all-purpose, bread or whole wheat flour and 125 grams of cake flour. Others may use different weights so use whatever they suggest.

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I can't stress enough the importance of weighing over volume. It is very important when making high ratio cakes. Scales are extremely inexpensive and every baker should own one.

The layers can be frozen for later use. Freeze unwrapped until hard, wrap well in foil and freeze for several months.

The recipe can be easily scaled up to any size required. See Pan Size Conversions and The Secret of the 9 Inch Cake Pan.

Cake Flour is used for it's low protein or gluten count which makes a more tender cake. I don't recommend using all-purpose flour as the weights of the two are different. There is more information on flours in my post, Flour as Used in Baking.

Don't overbeat the cake. Follow the instructions and times given.

For the flat layers, follow the instructions above in Cake Pan Prep - How To Get Flat Cake Layers.

Nutrition