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.

Fluffy vanilla cake with pink frosting layers, from Stuck On Sweet, perfect for celebrations, with a smooth texture and soft crumb.

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.

Buttery vanilla cake with pink raspberry frosting layers, decorated with smooth pink icing, on a white cake stand, perfect for desserts, celebrations, and sweet recipes at Stuck On Sweet.

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. 🙂

Fluffy white cake with pink frosting layers on a gray plate, topped with a large slice from the cake on a white cake stand, perfect for celebrations and dessert gatherings.

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!

The best Buttercream Frosting

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!

Light pink and white layer cake with smooth frosting, displayed on a decorative cake stand with a cake slice on a gray plate and a light fabric underneath.

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!

Light pink and white layer cake with smooth frosting, displayed on a decorative cake stand with a cake slice on a gray plate and a light fabric underneath.

Wish I had a piece now!

Yield: 1 cake (serves 8-10)

White Almond Cake with Whipped Buttercream Frosting

Fluffy vanilla cake with pink frosting layers, from Stuck On Sweet, perfect for celebrations, with a smooth texture and soft crumb.

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!

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

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

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.

Did you make this recipe?

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Cake Recipe: allrecipes.com  Frosting: Can you stay for dinner?

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255 Comments

  1. OMG, the white almond cake looks soooo beautiful and yummy!! I really appreciate this recipe. Thanks for sharing this amazing white almond cake recipe with us!

  2. This post makes me crave almond cake! I love the personal story about your wedding cake and your mom’s dedication. The description of a light, fluffy cake with silky buttercream sounds amazing. It’s so impressive you developed a homemade recipe to rival Glorious Desserts!

  3. This cake just looks awesome! It’s simple and beautiful! definately need a try!

  4. It seems cake mixes are now only coming in 14.25 and 13.25 oz packages – the 15.25 is getting harder and harder to find. Do you recommend adjusting if your cake mixes is only 14.25?

    1. Yes! It can last up to a week in the fridge – just needs to be stored securely and tightly. Unfrosted cake can be frozen for up to 2 months.

  5. Could this be baked in a 9×13?

  6. Can I use cake flour in this recipe instead of all purpose fllour

    1. I have not tested it with cake flour. There is a difference between using CF and AP flour. If you decide to use cake flour, for every 1 cup of all purpose flour, use 1 cup + 2 tablespoons cake flour.

  7. Can u use gluten free yellow cake mix and can u replace veg oil for butter?

    1. Hi Jennifer! I have not tested the cake with either ingredient so I am unsure what the outcome would be. With that said, butter will not provide as much moisture to the cake so it could come out dryer. Instead of vegetable oil, refined coconut oil would be a good sub. As far the GF cake mix, I am sure this is fine, but again haven’t tried it. If you decide to give a go, let me know how it turns out for future reference!

      1. I tested the frosting with gluten free 1-1 and it worked well. For the cake I just used a gluten free mix and added sour cream but followed the box for the rest.

  8. For the frosting, do you take it off the heat once it starts sputtering, and then continue to stir? Or do you keep it over medium heat until it reaches that cake batter consistency? Thank you!

    1. continue stirring until it thickens then remove from heat! Won’t take long.

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