Basic Yellow Cake Recipe (Cakes and Cupcakes)

April 16, 2025

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This is the BEST Yellow Cake Recipe! With moist and buttery layers, it’s perfect for a layer cake, a sheet cake or cupcakes! This easy cake recipe is homemade – you’ll never need to buy a box cake mix again, plus you can choose your favorite frosting – chocolate or vanilla!

Three-layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting and colorful sprinkles on top, placed on a white cake stand. A slice has been removed, revealing the moist layers and frosting in between.

Have you ever wanted to find a recipe for cake that also works for cupcakes? Well, look no further, because this is it!

I wanted to come up with one that would work for cupcakes and cake. I needed a recipe with a texture that is moist, light and airy, and wouldn’t make me miss my good old standby, the box mix. And guess what? THIS is the recipe I was looking for – and you have been too!

It makes an 8-inch or 9-inch layer cake, 24 cupcakes or a sheet cake
It holds up to stacking with a tender yet sturdy crumb and tastes like the perfect moist cake you expect from a yellow cake recipe.

If you’re ready to never have to buy a box cake mix again – this is the scratch cake recipe you need in your life!

How to make this Yellow Cake Recipe

Instead of softened, I use melted butter. I find it keeps the cake moister than with softened butter, and it has more flavor than oil.
Use baking powder to help the cake rise and be nice and fluffy. I always like to whisk my dry ingredients first: the baking powder with all-purpose flour, and salt.
The main difference between cake flour and all-purpose is protein content: cake flour has about 8% and all-purpose is slightly higher. This makes for a bit denser of a cake (hence the extra baking powder and buttermilk in my recipe).
I use buttermilk to add a little extra flavor, plus the acid in the buttermilk keeps the cake moist. You can also use regular whole milk or nondairy milk.
Be sure to mix in the eggs one at a time, beating between each.
It’s important to add the buttermilk alternately with the flour mixture so that you don’t over mix – just mix until the batter comes together.

3 layer yellow cake cut open on cake plate.

A slice of three-layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting sits on a white plate. The frosting is topped with colorful sprinkles. A fork is placed beside the slice. Another piece of cake is blurred in the background.

slice of 3 layer yellow cake on white plate.

Substitutions

You can make this cake with ANY kind of milk. I recommend using whole milk or full fat non-dairy milk – the more fat in the liquid the better the cake.
You can substitute vegetable oil for the melted butter. This makes it easy to make dairy-free. I recommend adding a bit of butter extract for flavor, but it’s not required.
To make a gluten free yellow cake, I have substituted Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF All-Purpose flour in this cake with success.
You can swap cake flour for all-purpose flour 1:1 for an even lighter cake, however it won’t be as sturdy and might not hold up to lots of stacking.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Assembling Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

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For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare cupcake pans with liners or grease and flour cake pan(s).
Whisk salt, baking powder, and flour in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
Using a hand mixer, cream sugar into melted butter until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then mix in vanilla extract.
Add dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour, mixing gently between each addition. Mix until just combined. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake as directed. Cool completely before removing and frosting.
Bake Time: 24 cupcakes: 14-17 minutes // Two 9-inch round pans: 24-27 minutes // Two 8-inch round pans: 25-33 minutes // 9×13-inch pan: 30-40 minutes

For the frosting:

If you’re making chocolate frosting, first whisk powdered sugar, cocoa, and salt until no lumps remain. If making vanilla frosting, whisk powdered sugar with salt.
Beat butter until smooth with a hand or a stand mixer. Note: if you’re using a hand mixer be sure to use a very large bowl to avoid wearing the powdered sugar.
Add powdered sugar (or cocoa/powdered sugar mixture), one cup at a time, and beat on medium speed until crumbly. Mix vanilla..
Add 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream at a time, mixing between each addition, until the frosting is smooth and the desirable consistency.
Frost cake or cupcakes as desired.

You can use a 9×13-inch pan, two 8-inch or 9-inch rounds, or make 24 cupcakes.
Store cake on counter for up to 3 days. Cake can be frozen (with or without frosting) for up to 2 months. Be sure to wrap it well in plastic wrap or an airtight container.