Moist White Almond Cake with Silky Buttercream Frosting
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If you’re looking for a cake that’s soft, moist, and guaranteed to impress, this White Almond Cake is it. Made with simple pantry ingredients and plenty of almond flavor, this classic layer cake bakes up tender and fluffy every single time, then gets finished with a silky, cloud-like buttercream frosting that’s smooth, rich, and not overly sweet. This almond cake is perfect for birthdays, weddings, showers, or anytime you want a bakery-style dessert at home. Best of all, it comes together in about 45 minutes, making it just as practical as it is beautiful.
I love this cake so much that I served it at my wedding. I had it made of course. I like to bake, but left that one up to Glorious Desserts in Des Moines. Her almond cake is bad ass. My mom will order one for family celebrations and haul it 5 hours from Des Moines to Chicago for us…she’s the best.
But because I love almond cake so much, I had to have a recipe that I could make at home that I equally loved as much as Glorious Desserts.
This is it! I have made this cake plenty of times and no matter what, it’s everyone’s favorite. They actually say I don’t make it enough! My mother-in-law’s best friend made this cake for her wedding! She said it was outstanding. See! This is why I love to blog – sharing recipes and my love for almond cake inspired someone to make it for her wedding! That makes me smile. 🙂
This cake could not be any easier to make. It’s very straightforward and starts out with a cake mix that’s doctored up quite a bit. What you’re left with is a runny batter that turns into the lightest, fluffiest and moist cake that there is. The flavor is WONDERFUL. No egg yolks in this one so the cake is totally white and beautiful.
I topped it off with my favorite frosting recipe…a silky buttercream that’s made with flour. It can be slightly tricky to make, but follow the directions and you should be fine. I’ve never had an issue making it!
To give you a visual of the frosting – the flour mixture is to the left – it looks like cake batter actually and is sticky, the middle is what it looks like after it’s whipped – so fluffy! and the last is the final the product!
You can’t go wrong with this one my friends. If you need a cake, this is your recipe. You can switch it up if you don’t like almond…add lemon extract, just vanilla extract, orange extract, etc. etc. The best part of this cake is that it’s full proof and tastes amazing every time!
Wish I had a piece now!
White Almond Cake with Whipped Buttercream Frosting
This white almond cake with whipped buttercream frosting is outstanding. It's moist, has wonderful almond flavor and the frosting is so light and fluffy. The perfect cake for any celebration!
Ingredients
White Almond Cake
- 1, 15.25 ounce package white cake mix
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/3 cups room temperature water
- 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or refined coconut oil)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 egg whites, room temperature
Whipped Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 5 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 3, 8 inch or 9 inch round cake pans; set aside. You can also use 2 cake pans, the layers will just be thicker.
- In a stand-alone mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (Hand-held mixer would work, too), mix together the white cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt.
- Pour in the water, sour cream, vegetable oil, almond extract, vanilla extract and egg whites. Mix on low until all the ingredients are mixed and moistened but some lumps still remain, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans, and bake for 25-30 minutes. The tops should be lightly golden. Remove and let cool before frosting.
- To make the frosting, whisk 1 cup of milk with 5 tablespoons of flour in a medium sauce pan and place over medium heat until the mixture begins to sputter, whisking constantly. Continue to stir as the mixture thickens. You will know it’s done when it reaches the consistency of thick cake batter (This took only a couple of minutes for me, but it can take longer). Remove from heat and whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon almond extract, and a pinch of salt, and set aside to cool completely - you can place in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process.
- In a stand-alone mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (hand-held mixer would work, too), beat 2 sticks of softened room temperature butter (1 cup) with 1 1/4 cups of granulated sugar until light, fluffy, and white in color, about 3 solid minutes of beating on medium-high speed. You want the sugar to be totally incorporated and dissolved into the butter. If it’s a little gritty, don’t worry. The sugar will dissolve at the frosting sets.
- Next, add the cooled milk/flour paste to the butter/sugar mixture. Beat all ingredients for 1 minute on high-speed, scraping down the bowl halfway through. The frosting should be as light and fluffy as whipped cream. Frost the cooled cake and enjoy!
Notes
Cake will last up to 3 days in a container, or up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Unfrosted cake can be frozen for up to 3 months.
This recipe can be made into cupcakes. Bake for 15 minutes then check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center. It it comes out clean, they're done. If not, add a few additional minutes and try again. Frosting makes just enough for the cake. If you want a lot of frosting, I suggest doubling the recipe. Refrigerate cake if not eating right away then bring to room temperature before eating. It's delicious cold, but room temperature is ideal.
Cake Recipe: allrecipes.com Frosting: Can you stay for dinner?
When your grandson that is turning ten tells you all he wants for his birthday is the almond cake you made, you make 40 cupcakes out of this recipe for his party! This is the best cake I have ever made and I can’t visit my family without taking it! It is superb!!!
love hearing this!!
What size pans are used for this cake?
8 inch or 9 inch would work!
I made this cake for a coworker and followed the directions exactly. I had major doubts about cooking the milk and flour but this was the BEST CAKE I HAVE EVER MADE. Thank you for this recipe.
you’re welcome!
I made this with the Betty Crocker Super Moist cake mix but it seemed almost too moist. Is there some adjustments I should make to it?
Maybe try using a different cake mix next time?
Would this be a good recipe to use for a rainbow cake using gel food coloring?
yes!
Is it ok to refrigerate or freeze the unfrosted cake for a few days?
yes! Just make sure it’s covered well.
I have been baking for over 30 years, made wedding cakes for a while in the 90’s. I love almond cake and have not been able to find a recipe I really loved. This cake was perfect! I followed directions exactly! Had a small dinner party and and everyone loved it! The ladies we all raving that this could not have been a cake mix!! LOL
SO glad you liked it!!
If I made in a rectangle sheet pan (9×13) how long should I cook for?
hello! That’s a good question. I haven’t made it like this before so I wold suggest 15 minutes and checking on it. I dont think it would take too much longer.
I realize I’m commenting almost a decade after this first post but I’ve never seen anyone reference Glorious Desserts before!! She made my wedding cake in 2005!! SO YUMMY!!!
Can you use chocolate cake mix instead of vanilla? And if so should I add coco powder to make it chocolatería?
I have used chocolate cake mix many times and it comes out Great every time. I recommend you make a test cake to see if it meets your standards, I find it better than the scratch recipe i use to make chocolate cake with.
Do you use food coloring or a flavoring for pink color
Food coloring!
Somehow the frosting began to separate. Maybe I beat it too long? The flavors were amazing!
Yes, that’s probably what happened! It takes a bit of practice to figure it out, but once you do, it’s wonderful!
Yes! Try it without cocoa powder as adding they may change the amounts of other ingredients.
I wonder if you could make this dairy free since I can’t have dairy. Use almond or oat milk and i have plant based sour cream. Hmmm. I may have to try this.
you can try! Sounds like it could work.
Almost any recipe can he converted to vegan nowadays so the answer is yes, absolutely yes! I often wonder why most people aren’t switching to vegan alternatives anyway because the taste literally doesn’t change at all. We’re a vegan family and use Flora plant based butter sticks (any vegan butter would work), Silk soy milk (any vegan milk would work) and eggs produced ethically from our rescue backyard chickens.
This cake is incredible. Super easy to make and tastes like you’re stepping back in time. Love the old timey almond flavor!
Hi. I’m looking for a cake with a very strong good almond taste. Is this a good cake for that?
Yes! If you want more almond flavor, simply add more almond extract.
Wonderful cake! Made this yesterday in two heart-shaped pans for Valentine’s Day. And then placed in refrigerator overnight. The flavor was fantastic!
thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
Oh boy, made this cake 2 days ago for a party and was truly exceptional. I was thrilled with the results!!! This is going to be a go to for now on the taste and consistency of this cake is amazing! The only thing is I struggled a little with the consistency of the frosting… with the texture it was more whipped and difficult to get a smooth finish and decorate, but again I don’t really care since it tastes so darn good! Thanks again for posting!!!
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes the frosting is not a buttercream consistency but that’s what makes it so darn good!