We all need an index of tried and true cake recipes
that we can always rely on as the base of every cake creation under the sun
As I complete the last touches for this yellow cake recipe
I can confidently say that I have also completed the list for all the base cake recipes you will ever need!
For me those cakes are:
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- Yellow Cake Recipe
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- Easy Chocolate Cake
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- Truly White~ Vegan White Cake
Some people may ask what is the difference between the white cake and the yellow cake? And why do I need both?
For most it is simply aesthetics, but when you look at those two recipes in comparison it comes down to the ingredients used.
In our past life it was the egg yolks in the recipe that gave the cake it’s classic yellow tinge.
Yellow Cake Recipe
This yellow cake recipe happens to be my Super Easy Vanilla Cake recipe which is a variation on the Wacky Cake we have all come to know and love.
It is one of my most acclaimed recipes in my Cookbook Modern Vegan Baking
Modern Vegan Baking
It is dense with a tighter crumb resembling a pound cake more than a sponge cake
It doesn’t crumble and it stacks and carves like a dream come true!
Iced with classic bakery fudge icing this cake is going to top your winners list!
Of course you can ice it with whatever you prefer
But I love the classic yellow cake and deep, dark fudge icing combination!
I have all the icing recipes here for you.
From five buttercream recipes and all the flavorings like mocha, chocolate and strawberry
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- Italian Meringue Buttercream
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- Mocha Buttercream
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- Strawberry Buttercream
Any of those would be amazing on this perfect bakery recipe for yellow cake!
Bake it into round cake layers or even cupcakes!
This is one easy recipe to mix since you don’t even need an electric mixer!
It’s all done by hand in one large bowl!
I even show you how to make your own homemade sprinkles if you can’t find vegan ones or just want to make a particular color mix
Note for Success:
I use soy milk as the milk for the majority of my baking.
Soy milk is the only milk that will sour upon adding vinegar which is what we do to make a mock “buttermilk”
You can use any plant milk of your choice if you are staying away from soy
But you will still need to add the vinegar, as that is also the activator for the baking soda to leaven this recipe
I am using a combination of cake flour and all purpose flour here, but if you have trouble getting cake flour you may use all ~all purpose flour instead, just take out ¼ cup of the total amount of flour
CLICK HERE FOR MORE ABOUT CAKE FLOUR & SELF RISING FLOUR
For more easy cake recipes click the links below!
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- Lemon Fluff Cake
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- One Bowl Chocolate Cake
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- Strawberry Cake Recipe
Fluffy Vegan Lemon Cake Recipe
One Hour ~One Bowl Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe
CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CAKE!
Grease and Parchment line your cake pan(s) and preheat the oven to 350°F
- For the Cake Batter:
- Soy Milk 1½ cups (355ml) *soy milk is the only plant milk that will thicken like buttermilk, but you can use whatever plant milk you prefer
- White Vinegar 1½ Tablespoons
- Vegan Butter ½ cup (113g)
- Vegetable oil of your choice ½ cup (117ml) *or more vegan butter melted
- Granulated Sugar 1¾ cup (350g)
- Salt ½ teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 3 teaspoons (15ml)
- All Purpose Flour 2 cups (250g)
- Cake Flour 1 cups (120g) *see notes in body of the text article for more info on cake flour
- Baking Soda 2 teaspoons
- 1 recipe Fudge Icing *optional or whatever icing you prefer
- First combine the vegetable oil with the melted vegan butter add the vanilla extract and set aside
- Combine the soy milk with the vinegar and let stand for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, including the sugar.
- Pour the wet ingredients in and whisk smooth, this will be the plant milk mixture and the butter/oil mixture
- Pour the batter into the greased and parchment lined pan(s) and bake immediately in the preheated 350°F oven for 15 minutes, then turn the open temperature down to 325°F to bake the rest of the way, approximately 20 minutes more or when you gently press the centers they are springy to the touch. Or do the toothpick test for moist crumbs.
- Cool in the pan(s) until you can safely touch without burning yourself then turn the cake(s) out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.
- Once completely cooled ice with your choice of icing
I have 2 x 8inch square pan would this recipe work in these pans or would I need to convert it?
Yes it will work, She states in the beginning of the recipe what it will make
Hi do you have a perfect red velvet recipe like this one?
I made and baked this as instructed. The center was springy. when I turned it out on to the wire rack, I found that the bottom of the middle was completely liquid..I put it back in the pan, bottom side up and cooked it another 12 minutes at 350 and it still hasn’t firmed up. I dont want to scorch the cake..not sure what to do
Hmm, sounds suspect. It’s hard to say what happened here, since this cake really is perfect and so many people have made it with great results. I’ll always ask that you go back to the recipe, make sure you measured everything correctly, mixed according to the video instructions and used proper sized pans also check your oven temperature to make sure it is calibrated.
I know this recipe calls for butter? But I can’t find vegan butter anyway or its a lot pricier. Is it possible to use margarine instead the ones that come in a tub?
This is by far the best vanilla recipe. Would this work in a loaf pan? So I’ll have to change the measurements.
Great! yes it will work! Just be sure to fill the batter 3/4 full and use the rest for something else like cupcakes or maybe even 2 loaves??
I’m not sure how much it will make, so that’s why I’m not trying to say just HALVE the recipe because I’m afraid you may not have enough batter for the loaf depending on what size the pans are.
You may want to lower the temp towards the 30 min lark to 325 to make sure the top doesn’t over bake before the middle is done!
This might be a weird question but do you think I could swap some of the flour for crushed Graham Crackers?
Hi Gretchen, would it be possible to substitute the vegan butter with something else? Like shortening or more oil? Thanks!
Yes you can do all veg oil
Hi Gretchen, I love your recipes, I’ve just made the Tres leches, unfortunately the sponge didn’t soak up all of the liquid but it was equally delicious.
One question, is there a reason why you use baking soda and not baking powder in this recipe, does the texture of the cake change in some way? Thanks!
Hey there! Hmm, I may have to look at that amount I have listed for the liquid soak portion, thanks for letting me know!
This is the original “wacky cake” recipe from the depression era, so baking powder was not yet available!
Baking soda and the acid *vinegar is essentially the same thing though, since baking powder is nothing more than baking SODA with an acid *(cream of tartar usually) that causes the reaction.
I prefer to stick to the recipes as written since they work perfectly, however if there is a reason you do not want to use baking soda, and must use baking powder instead? CLICK HERE FOR MORE
Although again, I would not recommend to alter this recipe.
I’ll repeat, baking POWDER is baking SODA with the acid already in there, so you are still getting the baking soda either way
What would the baking instructions be for cupcakes?
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full
bake 350F about 20-25min, so the toothpick test to be sure
Should get about 20 cupcakes
Hi!
This recipe looked amazing so I wanted to test it with my favorite gluten free flour mix (Better Batter Original Blend) because I use it for water based wacky cakes (as well as all my other baking) with success, and your recipe seemed very similar. I figured the extra protein from the soy milk would make it even better. So here’s what happened, and I’m looking for your thoughts on how I can make it better or if this recipe just won’t work the same for this gluten free blend or gluten free in general….
WHAT I DID: I made the cake with all the same ingredients, measured by weight with a scale (I bake by grams), but for the flour I used 120 g per cup of gluten free Better Batter Original Blend (120 g is the per cup equivalent suggested by Better Batter company). For the cake flour I used 105 g better batter flour and 16 g cornstarch (per your instructions on the cake flour info link).
I did made the mistake of not halving the recipe when I was baking in a 9×9 pan instead of 9×13, but I did bake for 15 min at 350 & 25 min at 325 to compensate. My tester came out clean multiple times so I pulled the cake out of the oven at that point. I also made sure not to over mix the batter, which works best for this flour because of the gums.
RESULT: It rose well but then sank a little in the middle after cooling. Although I believe it was cooked, the whole cake was very oily and mushy, especially the middle.
I’m thinking that the smaller pan was part of the problem, but more likely that it needed more of the gluten-free flour to help the structure .
What are your thoughts?
Thanks so much!
Hmmm, well first let me say I am not GF baker. I have however used this recipe a bunch of times with Bob’s Red Mill GF 1:1 blend with great results. (that would be the total weight of the flour substituted with the 1:1 Bob’s – no additional cornstarch to compensate for the cake flour
** which I think was probably the majority of your problem? )
I am not sure how Better Batter compares to Bob’s mix ingredients?
But I do know that many GF blends have gums added to them, so with another addition of cornstarch this could prove disastrous.
Also if Better Batter is asking you to convert the flour measure to suit their calculations versus a 1:1 mix. Agree as you suspect that this calculation is messing with the original recipe ~ again I am not familiar with Better batter~ But again 1:1 GF mixes do great in this recipe
Also the pan size being alot smaller than a 9″ x 13″ would cause a problem too.
Thanks so much! I’ll try it again with the total weight of the flour, as Better Batter should be a 1:1 flour, so maybe that was a big part of the problem, no cornstarch, & half of the recipe in a 9×9. Let me know if this sounds ok. I’m used to testing recipes for GF. LOL.