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This past weekend, we went to my in-laws’ lake house to celebrate our oldest daughter’s birthday, along with a few other family birthdays. I took a batch of German Chocolate Bars and the best homemade white cake ever!
Every time I make this cake, it receives rave reviews. It is so dense, moist and rich. It is a thousand times better than a boxed cake, and it really isn’t that hard to put together. The hardest part of the whole process is beating the egg whites.
This cake definitely makes any occasion memorable!
Homemade White Cake
- 3/4 c. shortening or margarine
- 1 1/2 c. sugar
- 1/2 t. vanilla extract
- 1/2 t. almond extract
- 2 1/3 c. flour
- 2 t. baking powder
- 1/4 t. salt
- 1 c. cold water
- 4 egg whites
In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening or margarine with sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add extracts. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with water. Beat just until combined. In another mixing bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.
Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
Frosting:
- 2 c. butter or margarine
- 6 c. confectioners’ sugar
- 1 t. almond extract
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1/4 t. salt
- 2 -3 T. milk
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter or margarine, confectioners’ sugar, extracts, and salt until light and fluffy. Add enough milk to achieve frosting consistency. Frost cake.
I always like to add a little variety to the center layer, so I separated 1 1/2 cups of frosting from the bowl and mixed in 1/4 c. raspberry preserves.
(Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. I forgot to grab my camera before we left, so I had to take this picture with my phone.)
Stop by Blessed By Grace for more Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for more Tasty Tuesday.
What a BEAUTIFUL!!! cake. Looks so YUMMY!!! Thanks for the recipe. Geri
I’m making it right now, I’ll let you know how it turned out
I can see why it gets such good reviews!!
It looks scrumptious. 
Thanks for sharing. I like the last photo! Visiting from Jen’s party. 
looks awesome to me!
thanks for a white cake recipe — I’ve been looking to get away from the boxed variety.
That looks wonderful!
What a gorgeous cake! Bookmarked to try very soon.
Wow! That cake looks beautiful and delicious too. I’m always impressed when someone makes a beautiful cake. Mine usually are lopsided, crumb-flecked ugly cakes
That is a beautiful cake. Happy birthday to your daughter. I would love for you to join me at Diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com for Crock Pot Wednesday. It’s easy, fun and economical! Come on over and check it out.
How beautiful. Homemade cakes are so good.
I love putting something extra special in the middle of a cake – it makes the entire cake so much more fun. I must agree that homemade cakes are so much better than anything out of a box.
Your cake looks delicious. I’ve saved your recipe for the next time I have an occasion for cake baking.
This looks a lot like my mom’s famous white cake recipe (though she leaves out the vanilla entirely and just uses almond–the almond flavor really makes the cake, doesn’t it?) so I know it’s delicious! Happy birthday to your daughter!
this cake sounds amazing!!!! i will definitely be making it! i love the touch of almond extract in both the cake, and frosting… excellent idea!
Oh man, that looks great!!! Thanks for participating in TMTT, this week
That looks awesome! I needed a new recipe for a white cake for tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
This recipe is the BEST Homemade White Cake I have ever made, and or eaten. It is really good. I just linked to your blog for my reader’s to get the recipe. Thanks so much. It is really the “bomb-diggity”.
What would happen if I used whole eggs–not just whites? Hate to waste the yolks! Would I use less than 4 whole eggs? Or would this ruin the whole cake? Thanks for your help.
It would make your batter yellow instead of white that is all! No harm will be done to your cake it should taste the same as far as i know.
gooooooood
thanks
My daughter will be making this for my 46 th birthday in two weeks! YUM!!
I accidentally burned a bix cake right before a party, with only an hour to spare and no time to head to the store I frantically searched for a recipe and found this one. Absolutely wonderful cake moist dense and fragrant…and easy!!! Thank you so much for posting!!!
Make your own life more simple take the home loans and everything you want.
So I made this cake, and I must have done something wrong! It tasted good, but was not tall and fluffy like yours. Very dense. Very hard to eat a whole piece
Anyway, I was wondering if you know what a novice-white-cake-baker might have done wrong? Maybe I didn’t beat the egg whites enough? Maybe too much? (I beat them about 3 minutes; I thought they were stiff.) Any thoughts? 
Be sure to NOT overmix any kind of cake mix or bread mix. Just mix until you see the flour blend in and then stop. Over-blending or mixing will make the final product very dense/or rubbery. I loved this cake and it’s a keeper. My cakes were’nt especially FLUFFY, but they were not too dense, perfect light and moist….wonderul.
I think I may just have to try this. I was searching google for a white cake recipe and saw yours and since I am a food blogger I wanted to check your cake out before the Allrecipes, Cooks.com and such.
I also post on Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.
I had.the same problem as diana . My cake was not at all tall and followed recipe correctly. It was dense like I wanted but the moisture was lacking. Which is better, margarine out shortening, I used shortening. please help!!
See my reply to Diana above…should have replied to your post….it was only two days ago!
Accuately the moisture was not lacking.
I had to come back and thank you for the best recipe. I made it for Easter and it was incredibly wonderful. You’re right…so much better than a box. The box mixes are good, but this was just different…moist, dense, but light at the same time and the frosting….oh my…I couldn’t stop eating it and I’m not a frosting fan. I’ve made buttercream before, but this was great (I used 1 cup butter and 1 cup shortening – due to a butter shortage in the house). WOW…. I suggest to all to make this cake.
This is the best cake I have ever made- delicious!
I stumbled upon this recipe and make it instantly! The cake was so moist and yummy. The only problem I had was with the frosting. Mine was separating when it got slightly warm, any pointers?
so this is officially my go to recipe for a white cake mix!!! i love the the density!! i am about to make an ipad cake for my husband and he loves this cake!!
can i chocolate this cake up? i really need to find a go to chocolate recipe and be done searching.
Hello Friend,I just made a home made white cake.
It was moist- ( But ) I was very,very heavy.
It reminded me of a wet heavy sponge,What
in the world could I have done wrong?
God Bless Heidi
I tried this recipe last night and it came out delicious. It was easy and everyone who tasted it agreed that it was delightful. I used cherry preserves between the layers.
Im only a kid but i love cooking and looking for new recipes and every so often i have people wanting to buy a rainbow cake that i make and i haaate using the box mix and im soo going to try this! thank you!
I have never made cake from scratch before… let alone made egg white peaks… but I conquered my fears and made this cake… it was perfect!!! I thought the density of it was outstanding! Not sure I can ever eat a white cake from a box again! Next time I want to try the frosting… do you think strawberry preserves would work well too?
Hi, this recipe sure does look great but ive also come across a mix tht involved vanilla pudding mix (4 servings jello brnd) could i add tht to yours?
what would happen if i sifted the flour? Would it make a difference?
Why is my frosting separating and also tastes just like one bug bute if soppy butter? Followed recipe.. Confused
I found this recipe and coming from a non baker, I have to say this is THE BEST cake I have ever, I mean, ever had! Better than sex, good!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I got instant compliments when I made it for my daughter’s birthday. The best white cake I have ever tasted. I even sneaked in some whole wheat.The texture is wonderful and I love the density! Finally a moist cake recipe to keep!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! My son asked for a round white cake for his birthday. I made this and got rave reviews. It turned out delish!
Ohh my! What a WONDERFUL homemade recipe. My husband couldnt stop eating it & he does’nt like sweets. Thank u!
I tried baking a cake before this cake. For some reason both cakes came out terrible. they smelt and taste raw. almost doughy. :0) Ill keep searching…
So, I want to make this for my son’s 2nd b-day and I’m a little confused on what the ‘t’ stands for. Is it tablespoons or teaspoons?
Hi Karen!
‘t’ stands for teasoons and ‘T’ stands for tablespoons
Has being a well known chef in the north end. I been cooking for years. I try this cake and its joke. One big wast of time to make. it was nasty wast of my time also.
I do not know what I did wrong, but I followed the directions exactly and double checked my measurements and ingredients. My cake came out thin, did not rise at all, and was more like a bisquit. The flavor was fine but it was not at all fluffy nor moist.
I do not know what I did wrong, but I followed the directions exactly and double checked my measurements and ingredients. My cake came out thin, did not rise at all, and was more like a bisquit. The flavor was fine but it was not at all fluffy nor moist. The batter was so thick I could hardly spread it.
I would like to try this recipe … can I replace the shortening or margarine with butter? And would cake flour make this even better? I’d appreciate your comments. It looks beautiful and moist.
How many cupcakes woul this make? Please anyone respond
I have not made this recipe before, but normally one cake recipe would make about 24 cupcakes