We were aiming for a moist and tender classic yellow birthday cake here, and that’s what you’ll get with this super-easy cake mix made with familiar pantry staples. Put together a batch or two to store away for those days when you’re in a homemade-cake mood. Just add eggs, oil and vanilla and you’ll be ready to go.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 35 min |
| Prep: | 5 min |
| Inactive: | 1 hr |
| Cook: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 9-inch layer cake |
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup instant nonfat dry milk, such as Carnation
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the cake mix: Whisk together the flour, sugar, dry milk, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Store in a resealable bag in a cool dry place for up to 3 months until ready to use.
- To bake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment. Coat with cooking spray.
- Whisk 1 1/4 cup water, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl until well combined and slightly frothy. Add the dry mix and whisk vigorously until well combined and smooth, about 50 strokes. Divide between the prepared cake pans. Bake until lightly golden and slightly puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in the pans 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack right-side up to cool completely. Frost and decorate as desired.
- For cupcakes: Place liners in pans for 24 cupcakes. Fill each cup 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees F until golden, puffed and a toothpick comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Cool completely before frosting as desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 9 servings |
| Calories | 551 |
| Total Fat | 23 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Carbohydrates | 79 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 52 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Cholesterol | 67 mg |
| Sodium | 300 mg |
Reviews
I haven’t made a cake yet, but isn’t 2 1/4 cups sugar a bit excessive?
I made the cake exactly as requested, using all the ingredients (no substitutes) – including real milk powder instead of liquid milk. When made exactly as written, the cupcakes turn out fine and delicious. Not too sweet (surprisingly, despite putting in that much sugar), but moist and fluffy and tender. It does not taste like the cake mixes you buy however, because the cake mix companies probably put in some sort of artificial flavorings.
They did not rise well. Despite I added extra baking powder. They tasted too salty and could be sweeter. The batter was too thick and therefore I had to add more water into it. The tops did not slightly brown as they normally do in my oven but the bottoms were over cooked. I did use Splenda and added pudding mix to it to add moisture, but I do not think that would have affected the results.
very good but i added lemon juice and zest, used butter and added coconut flakes
Awful. I think mainly because vegetable oil is not sufficient, you must need to use butter in order for cake to turn out good. This basically tastes like a subpar pancake. Too much flour is called for too I believe, because the texture is too fluffy.
Without a review I was nervous to try this cake but liked that it didn’t have 6 eggs like other homemade yellow cakes. I made this for my husbands birthday and the only thing I changed was I only used 1 3/4 cup of sugar, for my family it was still plenty sweet when frosted with raspberry preserves in the center. The cake seemed moist right out of the oven and once cooled I put my preserves and frosting on and the cake sat overnight – still moist today and delicious with the raspberry & homemade vanilla frosting! Just finished a second piece it is so good!