Perfect Moist Self-Rising Flour Yellow Cake

This cake is super simple and straight forward recipe, because it uses self-rising flour.I’ve made cupcakes with this recipe, and recently baked mini bundt cakes for strawberry shortcake. This is my “go to” recipe that’s just as easy as buying a box cake mix. Actually, it’s even better and it’s perfect.

My husband is a self-professed lover of berry pies, as is my son. (It must be a guy thing.) Moi? Cake, for sure. A moist slice of cake (or a good cupcake)  is one of my guilty pleasures.  My excuse reasoning is, if I’m going to indulge in this carb and sugar laden confection, I want to make the fat grams count.  That translates to “it has to be really, really good“.  I’ve had my share of dry cakes, and I won’t bother finishing them. Oh, and canned frosting? Won’t happen, with me.  You can blindfold me, and I’ll pick out chemical-laden, artificially flavored frosting every single time. Not for me, especially when homemade frosting is easy to make, and fun!

I’m still searching for the “Ultimate Moist White Cake”.  I’ve already found my favorite chocolate cake recipe, that is moist and my go-to recipe.  If you check my recipe index, you’ll see that I’ve posted several towering cake recipes, from Coconut to Strawberry to Cherry to a Guinness Chocolate Cake.   What’s missing is a recipe for yellow cake.  Until now…

Sure cake mixes are always on sale, and they’re generally pretty good.  But making a cake, from scratch, isn’t that difficult to do– and it gives me a sense of gratification that I was in control of what ingredients I used.   I hear that White Lily flour is popular, but I’ve never seen it in my part of California. I’ve recently become a fan of self-rising flour, ever since King Arthur Flour introduced their unbleached version. 

This recipe is very easy to make, and I’ve made it more than once.  I can assure you that it’s going to become my trusty recipe, and it’s very versatile.  It’s a non-fussy recipe that doesn’t involve a lot of sifting, folding of egg whites or anything like that. It’s pretty basic– self-rising flour, eggs, whole milk, sugar and butter flavor.  Let’s talk about “butter flavor”.  I have grown fond of  LorAnn Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion that I use in most of my baked goods, so that’s the ingredient that I keep on hand.

As you can see, I overfilled the cupcake liners and I got “mushroom cupcakes”. Whoops!  I made a note to fill the cupcake liners to only halfway, so the second batch came out just right.  I had plenty of dough to make almost 24 cupcakes!

TASTING NOTES:  The baking time was about 13 minutes– just until a toothpick, inserted into the center, came out with just a few crumbs stuck to it.  I made a traditional buttercream frosting (I don’t use a recipe. I simply use one stick of softened butter, and add powdered sugar until it has the right consistency, then add a little light cream and vanilla extract).

 

The cupcakes were very moist, with a beautiful tender crumb.  I’m telling you, Self-Rising flour makes baking cakes, scones or biscuits very user friendly!

Strawberry season begins in Spring, but lasts well through August, in my part of the Salinas Valley.  I just purchased a new mini bundt cake pan, and decided to use the same yellow cake recipe for strawberry shortcake.

I love this pan, but it’s important to use a really good baking spray (my choice: Baker’s Joy).  The mini bundts popped right out of the pan– whew!  The baking time was about 15 minutes; I used the toothpick method to check for doneness.

The cake recipe delivered all that I had hoped it would– this is much better than those pre-fab shortcakes that you buy, all sealed in plastic wrap.  The cake is moist, with just the right amount of sweetness. There are butter notes of flavor, and did I already mention that it’s tender?

The recipe source/credit goes to Bakerella.  A printable recipe card is at the end of this post.

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The Perfect Moist Yellow Cake

This cake is super simple and straight forward recipe, because it uses self-rising flour.I've made cupcakes with this recipe, and recently baked mini bundt cakes for strawberry shortcake. This is my "go to" recipe that's just as easy as buying a box cake mix. Actually, it's even better and it's perfect.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Yellow Cake

Servings: 10 servings

Author: Debby – www.AFeastfortheEyes.net

Equipment

• 3 8" cake pans
• 2 cupcake pans if adapting to cupcakes
• 1 mini bundt cake pan optional variation, for shortcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, room (2-sticks), room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs room temperature
• 3 cups sifted self-rising flour I prefer King Arthur Flour Unbleached Self-Rising Flour or you can use White Lily
• 1 cup whole milk room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring I use LorAnns Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor that I buy on Amazon.com

Buttercream frosting:

• 1 cup butter (2-sticks), room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1b powdered sugar
• 1-3 teaspoons milk, half and half or cream
• cake coloring of your choice (optional)

Instructions

Cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare the cake pans with parchment paper and greased with butter and flour or cake non-stick spray.
• Using a mixer, cream butter until fluffy.

  Add sugar and continue to cream for about 7 minutes.

  Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg is added.

  Add flour and milk (alternating to creamed mixture), beginning and ending with flour.

  Add vanilla and butter flavoring to mix; until just mixed.

  Divide batter equally into three cake pans.

  Hold each layer about 3 inches above your counter and carefully drop the pans flat onto counter several times to ensure release of any air bubbles. This will help you have a more level cake.

  Bake for 25 – 30 minutes (depending on your oven) until done. TIP: I always err on the side of caution, and check my cakes 5 minutes before the recommended baking time. You can always bake longer, but once over baked– the cake is dry.
• Cool in pans for 5 – 10 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

Buttercream:

• Using a mixer, cream softened butter and vanilla until smooth.

  Add sugar gradually, allowing butter and sugar to cream together before adding more.

  If you want your frosting a little creamier, add a teaspoon of milk at a time and beat on high until you get the right consistency.

  Add a few drops of icing colors to tint the frosting the color of your choice.

  This frosting recipe is usually just enough for a 2-layer cake, so I would recommend doubling this for a three-layer–if you like a lot of frosting.

Cake assembly:

• Level off the top of your cake, if necessary.

  Add a layer of frosting to your bottom layer. Repeat on second and third, frost the top layer and then the sides.

Notes

NOTE: For cupcakes, this recipe makes 2 dozen cupcakes; fill the cupcake liners to half way only. (I speak from a messy experience). Check the cupcakes at about 13 minutes.

 

 

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!

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