What ingredients go into my Vanilla Almond White Cake?

Ingredients required for my Vanilla Almond White Cake

Egg whites - provides the structure for the cake. Did you know one of the main reasons cakes are yellow is because of egg yolks? Since we’re not using any in the cake, it will bake creamy white. You can save your yolks for some pastry cream or lemon curd :)

Milk - provides moisture for the cake. You can use any fat level of milk; they will all produce a super moist cake.

Vanilla and almond extract - are the flavoring components for this cake. Almond extract is super potent, so be sure to measure it carefully. If you prefer to leave it out, replace it with more vanilla extract, and you’ll have a super vanilla-ey cake instead.

Cake flour - is milled very fine and uses a particular type of wheat with a lower protein content than all-purpose or bread flour. In the US, common brands for home bakers are Softasilk (bleached), Swan’s Down (bleached), and King Arthur’s Cake Flour (unbleached). All work great.

If you cannot find cake flour, you can use all-purpose flour. The cake will have a coarser crumb, but it will still be incredibly delicious and worth baking.

You can substitute removing a tablespoon of all-purpose flour (for every cup) and replacing it with a tablespoon of cornstarch. This works to some extent, and I will cover that in a blog post in the future.

White granulated sugar - adds the taste of sweetness to this cake. Sugar also adds moisture! I know it sounds strange because most of the time, we’re working with it in solid form - little crystals, right? But sugar melts quickly into a syrup, adding moisture to a cake.

Baking powder - provides lift to the cake and contains both an acid and a base. Have you ever done those volcano experiments where you add vinegar to baking soda, and it produces fizzy bubbles? That’s very similar to what’s happening inside our cakes containing baking powder when we put them in the oven.

Kosher salt - adds the salty taste to cakes and enhances the flavor. I always use Diamond Crystal kosher salt for my baking.

Unsalted butter is the primary source of fat in our cakes, and fat ensures a moist cake and prevents it from drying out. I use unsalted (sometimes referred to as “sweet”) butter because it gives us complete control over the salt content in our baked goods.

In this recipe, we want to ensure the butter is softened due to the reverse creaming method. It needs to blend pretty thoroughly into the flour, and if the butter is too firm, it won’t correctly coat the flour.

Canola oil - is another fat that adds moisture to a cake. Why add both butter AND oil? Butter is a different type of fat in that it contains water and remains solid-ish at room temperature.

Oil remains liquid, even down to freezing temps sometimes. The state in which the fat resides during room temp or the temp that we eat our cake will affect the texture.

What is the reverse creaming method for mixing cakes?

This method may look a little different than the most popular mixing method in the US, which typically starts with “Cream the butter and sugar together.” (By the way, that one is sometimes referred to as the “creaming” method or “conventional” method.)

Reverse creaming is different in that we add our dry ingredients to the bowl first (so flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) and then add in the fats (butter and oil). We mix that until it looks like we’re about to make pie dough, and then we add the liquids and eggs at the very end of the process.

The reasoning is that the fats are better able to coat the flour. This is beneficial because that layer of fat is a barrier against the liquid ingredients (eggs and milk). When liquid and flour mix, they can potentially form gluten, which gives baked goods a chewy texture. This is awesome for pizzas but not so much for cakes. So protecting the flour and working with it as little as possible gives us that super soft crumb we love about cakes.

What is the texture of Vanilla Almond white cake?

The crumb on my white cake is very plush with smaller air pockets

This is a very moist cake with a tight crumb. The reverse creaming method is ideal if you’re looking for a plush or velvety cake. Because there’s not much of an aeration step in this cake batter, the air pockets aren’t going to be as large. The creaming method begins with a significant aeration step by mixing the butter and sugar for a long time.

Even with a soft and moist texture, this cake is structurally sound enough to stack in large layer cakes. I’ve used this recipe several times in cakes as large as 8 inches and four layers tall.

What is the flavor of Vanilla Almond White Cake?

The flavor of this cake rides on whether you choose to use almond extract and vanilla. The almond brings a sweet flavor, the vanilla has floral notes, and a baked flour taste follows it. This cake also is a bit on the sweet side but has a neutral look and taste that could go well with other flavors if you want to mix up fillings.

What is the difficulty level of this cake?

This is a category two or “easy” cake recipe. You’ll be rewarded with a good rise and soft cake so long as you pay attention to the order of ingredients if you’re not familiar with the reverse creaming method. Look at the textures of each step I show in my video to guide you.

What frosting goes well with Vanilla Almond White cake?

This is my classic white cake and would go great with almost any frosting. Fruit, caramel, chocolates, or Oreo buttercreams … honestly, it’s harder for me to think about what wouldn’t go with this cake.

Who is this cake best for?

This is a great white cake to keep in your recipes for birthdays or celebration cakes. It’s best for anyone looking for a classic white cake flavor, perhaps on its own or something more neutral to pair with another flavor.

Here’s a video tutorial on how this cake batter comes together, which I used in a Berry Chantilly Cake.