My Favorite Vanilla Cake

When it comes to my friends and family, my most requested cake has been my chocolate cake. I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but even I love it. I seriously have to give it away if I have some leftover, I can't stop myself from snacking on it. My white cake has always been a bit more of a challenge. My very first attempt at making a white cake completely by scratch was a bit of a disaster! It was for my cake decorating class, and I choose one of the harder cakes. You had to beat egg whites and fold it into the rest of the batter. I had a lot of trouble getting the egg whites to form stiff peaks, I think I gave up before it got to the point it was supposed to be at. I've since made cakes with egg whites, but that first attempt was a bit of a disaster.

After that, I started working with a recipe my teacher gave me in one of my cake decorating classes. The first time I made it, the cake was amazing! Somehow after that, though, it didn't quite work as well... The recipe seems sensitive to small adjustments. Over the past year, I've tweaked a few things here and there, trying to get back to the flavor and texture it had the first time I baked it. It is a doctored cake mix (but an involved one at that). I've played around with the cake mix used, temperature of different ingredients, order of mixing, and oven temperature. Finally, this past weekend I made my absolute favorite white cake.

It was very surprising, because I (of course) was rushing to get it made. That's usually when I make silly mistakes. The cake baked perfectly, though. It rose to the desired height, there was no crater in the middle. (Ok, it's never that big of a dip in the middle, but you get the picture.) I was really nervous as this was the first cake I made for my in-laws. But, the cake was moist and delicious! It was just like I remembered from the first time I made it. So, now I want to share it with you! Hopefully if I have it documented on here, I will be able to replicate it in the future. My notebook that contains the recipe should probably be tossed, it's got cake batter caked all over it! 

My Favorite White Cake ingredients:

• 1 box Betty Crocker white cake mix
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs (room temp)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/3 cup water

My Favorite White Cake directions:

• Preheat oven to 325F
• Leave eggs sitting out to get to room temp
• Completely combine dry ingredients (cake mix, flour, sugar)

• Mix in eggs, vanilla, oil, sour cream, and water
• Beat for a minute on medium speed

• Prepare cake pan with cooking spray
• Pour batter into pan
• Bake according to pan size, using Wilton baking charts (slightly increasing time for the lower temp)

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it is easy to adjust for different flavors. You can replace some of the water with flavoring to experiment with different types of cakes! Check back later this week, as I will (hopefully) be sharing my second attempt at cake batter ice cream. Last time didn't go so well... Also, don't forget to link up to my Sweet Tooth Tuesdays party going on through Friday!

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Here's the recipe card:

Don't forget to check out my other cards as well. I'm continuing to grow the number I have on the site!