White Cake
A tender, snow-white two-layer cake made with egg whites and buttermilk, covered in vanilla buttercream, baked for 30 minutes.
Photograph credit: Fair Culinary Competition (2881682604) (image of White cake on Wikidata Q104858815) by Kimberly Vardeman from Lubbock, TX, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Egg whites, not whole eggs, are the secret of the colour. A white cake contains no yolks, which is why the crumb is pale, delicate and slightly airy, with a clean flavour that is all vanilla and butter. It is the cake of weddings and christenings, because it looks elegant and takes decoration well.
Because there are no yolks, the cake relies on the structure of the egg white proteins and the buttermilk for moisture. Use room temperature egg whites, which whip to a higher volume than cold ones. Separate them carefully, as a speck of yolk can stop them from reaching their full height. Fold the whipped whites into the batter in two goes at the end, so as not to lose the air.
Use cake flour, or make your own. Plain flour has more protein than a tender cake needs. Replace two tablespoons of every 150 g of plain flour with cornflour and sift the mix three times, and you have a good approximation of cake flour. The sifting aerates it and helps the cake rise evenly.
Bake in two lined 20 cm tins and test with a skewer. Cool the layers completely, trim any domes, and sandwich with buttercream. A crumb coat of thin buttercream, followed by a short chill and a final coat, gives a smooth surface.
What People Ask
How long does White Cake take to make?
30 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking, so at least 1 hour. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 12.
How to Make White Cake
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Heat the oven to 175°C / 345°F. Grease and line two 20 cm tins. Sift the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt together 3 times.
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Beat 225 g butter and the caster sugar for 4 minutes until pale. Beat in the vanilla.
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Fold in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk.
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Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the batter in 2 additions. Divide between the tins and bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely.
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Beat the buttercream butter, icing sugar and milk until fluffy. Sandwich and cover the cake.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- Use room temperature egg whites.
- Sift the flour three times.
- Fold the whites in gently.
Swaps and Variations
- Out of buttermilk? The usual stand-in is a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar stirred into 250 ml of ordinary milk and left five minutes; it is thinner than cultured buttermilk, so a batter may need a little less of it.
Serve It With
Fresh berries · Sparkling wine · Hot tea · Coffee
Keeping and Reheating
Keeps in an airtight container for 3 days.
White Cake Nutrition Facts
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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