White Layer Cake Recipes

BUTTERMILK WHITE LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 9-inch round baking pans.
• Beat butter and vanilla extract together in a bowl until creamy. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl. Beat butter mixture, alternating with buttermilk, into flour mixture until fully incorporated.
• Beat egg whites in a glass or metal bowl until foamy. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until medium peaks form. Lift your beater or whisk straight up: the tip of the peak formed by the egg whites should curl over slightly. Fold egg white mixture into batter until just combined. Pour batter evenly into the prepared baking pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
• Spread frosting atop one of the cakes and top with second cake. Spread the remaining frosting over the top cake and around the sides of both cakes.

BLACK-AND-WHITE LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch-round cake pans and dust with cocoa powder, tapping out the excess. Combine the butter, milk and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Transfer to a large bowl, add the cocoa powder and granulated sugar and whisk until smooth. Let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Whisk the eggs and vanilla into the cocoa mixture, then stir in the flour mixture in two additions until just combined (it's OK if there are a few small lumps). Divide the batter between the prepared pans; tap the pans against the counter to remove any air bubbles. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes in the pans, then run a knife around the edges and invert onto a rack to cool completely.
• Make the frosting: Put the white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring, until smooth; let cool. Beat the butter and salt in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the melted white chocolate until combined. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar until smooth and fluffy; beat in the vanilla. (If the frosting is too soft to spread, chill about 15 minutes.)
• Place one cake layer on a platter and spread with one-third of the frosting. Top with the second cake layer; cover the whole cake with the remaining frosting. Top with shaved white and dark chocolate.

WHITE LAYER CAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 9" round layer cake pans with unsalted butter or solid shortening, and line the bottoms with waxed paper; set aside.
• Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large mixer bowl. Add the butter, milk and vanilla.
• Beat the mixture on slow speed until blended. Then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula or a large spoon.
• Add unbeaten egg whites and beat the batter for two minutes longer at medium speed.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350 F for 20 to 30 minutes or until cake is light golden brown and is just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.
• Cool the cake 15 minutes in the pans, then carefully remove the layers from the pans and cool them completely on wire racks.
• Fill and frost with your favorite frosting .

CLASSIC WHITE CAKE LAYERS

Steps:

• 1 Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
• 2 Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, mixing well.
• 3 Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until very soft and light. Beat in the vanilla.
• 4 Whisk together the egg whites and milk by hand in a medium mixing bowl until just combined.
• 5 Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in one-quarter of the flour mixture, then one-third of the milk mixture, stopping and scraping down the bowl and beater after each addition. Beat in another quarter of the flour, then another third of the milk mixture. Scrape again. Repeat with another quarter of the flour and the remaining milk mixture; scrape. Finally, beat in the remaining flour mixture.
• 6 Scrape the bowl well with a large rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops.
• 7 Bake the layers for about 30 to 35 minutes, until they are well risen and firm and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean. Cool the layers in the pans on racks for 5 minutes, then unmold onto racks to finish cooling right side up.

BASIC WHITE LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition., Spread evenly into two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Spread frosting between layers and over the top and sides of cake.

COOK'S ILLUSTRATED WHITE LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining. Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer. Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes. Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.