This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Most of the recipes that we share on our blog are as simple as can be . . . however, for special occasions, I like to branch out a little bit!
Our cute friend Amanda from I Am Baker just released her cookbook, Surprise Inside Cakes. I am sure that you have seen all of Amanda’s amazing creations on Pinterest (such as her Infamous Rose Cake!) and I am always blown away by her amazing creativity and talent. So, when I was finally able to get my hands on one of her books, I felt inspired to try and make one of the cakes myself!
To be honest, I have NEVER made a two layer cake. I am the type of girl who makes a cake batter, pours it into a 9×13″ pan, and calls it good. This was definitely going to be something new for me!
Thankfully Amanda’s book has such easy to follow instructions and pictures of each step, so even a two-layer cake newbie like myself felt confident in what I was doing.
Check out more of our favorite cake recipes:
- Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake
- Pineapple Poke Bundt Cake
- Easy Black Forest Cake
- Turtle Texas Sheet Cake
- Rich and Moist Zucchini Cake
- Homemade Funfetti Cake Recipe
Basic White Two-Layer Cake and White Buttercream Frosting Recipe
This is hands-down the best made-from-scratch white cake recipe I have ever tried!
Serving
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups cake flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 cup butter (unsalted), room temp
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup milk, room temp
- 1 ¼ teaspoons clear vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 5 egg whites, room temp
White Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup shortening
- 2 teaspoons clear vanilla
- dash salt
- 7 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup milk, (or heavy cream)
Equipment
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and make sure that the rack is in the center of your oven. Spray two 8" round cake pans very generously with non-stick cooking spray (I used Baker's Joy ).
- In a large bowl, mix together cake flour, salt, and baking powder; set bowl aside.
- In another large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until it's light and fluffy (you can use a standing mixer or an electric hand mixer).
- In a large measuring cup, combine the milk, vanilla, and almond extract.
- Now it's time to add them all together! Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend on a low speed for about 30 seconds. Add about 1/2 of the milk mixture and blend again. Add in half of what's left of the flour mixture and blend again. Add in the rest of the milk mixture, blend for a couple of seconds, then the remaining flour mixture and blend at a low speed until the ingredients are barely mixed together (don't over mix!).
- In a separate bowl (or in your stand mixer using the whisk attachment), beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they reach "firm peak stage" (a.k.a. when the whisk is held sideways, the peaks will hold and the ridges will be distinct - this took about five minutes of whisking for me!). Fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
- Pour the cake batter evenly into the two prepared pans and bake them for 20-26 minutes (mine were done at 25), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes, then carefully remove the cakes and let them finish cooling on wire racks.
Frosting
- Combine the shortening, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl (you can use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer). Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, alternating with the milk or heavy cream, and mix it together until you have used it all. If the frosting is too thick, add more milk. If the frosting is too thin, add more sugar.
Stack your cake
- Place one of your cooled, leveled cake layers on your cake stand . Using an offset spatula, place about 1/2 cup of frosting in the middle of the cake. Using your spatula, push the frosting out to the edges until the frosting is about 1/4"-1/2" thick (if you have a rotating cake stand, this step is really easy, but you can do it without it).
- Place the second layer of cake on top. You will now create the crumb coat (a thin layer of frosting that seals in all the crumbs to make it easy to decorate). Using the offset spatula, spread the frosting that has spilled out from between the layers smoothly over the surface. Add more frosting as needed, just keep the layer thin and smooth.
- Place about 1/2 cup of frosting on the top of the cake, pushing the frosting out to the edges until it's a smooth, flat surface.
- Now place the spatula against the edges of the cake and smooth out the excess frosting pushed over from the top of the cake.
- To help the cake firm up, stick it in the freezer for about 1-2 hours.
- From here, drop 1/2 cup frosting on the center of the cake and push it out to the edges as you did before, making the surface nice and smooth.
- Continue adding frosting to the top and edges of the cake until it's the smoothness and thickness you want. (Amanda says that the best way to get smooth frosting is to practice!)
- From there, continue to add more frosting to the top and sides of the cake until it's completely covered. I topped mine off with sprinkles, but you could get fancy and add some frosting decorations
Nutrition
Calories: 830 kcal · Carbohydrates: 128 g · Protein: 6 g · Fat: 34 g · Saturated Fat: 15 g · Trans Fat: 3 g · Cholesterol: 44 mg · Sodium: 242 mg · Potassium: 100 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 104 g · Vitamin A: 523 IU · Calcium: 105 mg · Iron: 1 mg
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.Cake and frosting recipe source: I Am Baker
I’d love to win the cookbook to attempt some cake creations for my grandbabies! My favorite cake is a yellow cake with chocolate frosting! YUMMY!
I love angel food cake but have never been brave enough to make one from scratch.
I love a good, soft chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Nothing quite like it!
My favorite is a good, soft chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Nothing like it!
Mom’s homemade Texas Sheet Cake, of course slightly warm yet with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on it.
My favorite cake is gluten free chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.
Love these kinds of cakes, and would love to try to make one myself! Thanks for the chance to win the cookbook 😉 My favorite kind of cake is anything with lemon..so light and refreshing 😉
I love white cake with buttercream frosting.
I love white cake with white icing.
My favorite cake is a white cake with white cream frosting with a hint of vanilla. Would love to win the cookbook so that I can be brave and attempt more than just basic cakes from a mix.
Angel Food with strawberries or my Mom’s Glaze. Yummy any way you serve it
My favorite cake is a white cake with white cream frosting with a hint of vanilla. I would love to win the cookbook so that I would be brave enough to make a special cake from scratch and not just a plain ole cake from a mix.
I live a German chocolate cake with frosting on it! Yum yum and would love her cookbook!
Great to have a basic white cake in my repertoire, and who doesn’t love a great buttercream recipe. Life is just better with frosting. 🙂
My favorite cake is German Chocolate.
Chocolate cake (4 thin layers, filled and topped with vanilla buttercream, outside of cake is frosted in chocolate frosting. Top should be smothered in quality chocolate jimmies aka sprinkles! Yum!
I love funfetti cake!
I love baking sweets of any kind!! Favorite cake would have to be white almond sour cream cake! Perfect for sculpting (or attempting to)!!
Favorite cake = white wedding cake
Hands down my favorite cake is white cake with a butter cream frosting!!! I only eat white cake and am very disappointed when I get one and it’s awful! I would love to have a good recipe. Thanks
I love Irish Creme! YumO!
Red Velvet <3
White cake with butter cream icing
I love dark chocolate cake with real whipped cream topping and bananas sliced in the middle with the whipped cream added. Hmmm hmmm…delicious.
Chocolate is my favorite cake!
Cherry chip was my all time favorite growing up.
I loooove white cake! What a fun cookbook!
What a yummy sounding cake. I promise I’m not a boring person, but my favorite cake is a plain vanilla cake with a homemade super-sweet fluffy buttercream icing. The key to any good cake is an inordinate amount of icing. Oh the calories… and this is why I don’t make cake on a regular basis.
I like any cake, it’s all good!
I love a moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting 🙂 mmmm
That looks delicious!!!! My favorite cake would have to be a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!!!
I love chocolate cake with raspberry filling but am never brave enough to bake my own!
A really good chocolate cake but sometimes I love white on white, too. Basically anything involving frosting!! 😉
My favorite cake is carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It reminds my of my very favorite little grandma! She always made this cake for me.
Love, love, love vanilla (white) cake that is super moist and yummy!
I love a beautiful cake. It doesn’t matter the flavor, as long as it’s yummy, if it’s pretty I love it. Between myself, my three boys and my husband, we all have different favorites so I’ve learned to make what everyone wants and make it pretty and I’ll eat it too. Hahaha keeping my fingers crossed for the cookbook! Hoping to add a girl to this brood of boys and have plans on the cake already. Haha
chocolate is my favorite but any kind of cake will do!
My favorite is spice cake.
Love Cake! Love white cake! Any cake with a cup of coffee – amazing!
My dear mother’s “Lazy Daisy” cake. I sure miss her, and the cake!
I love buttercream frosting when done right and this looks so good!!! Chocolate w chocolate buttercream frosting is my ultimate fav, but yellow butter w chocolate buttercream, white w white buttercream! Hey it’s sugar! Ya just can’t go wrong!!!
Red Velvet is my favorite cake with cream cheese frosting! So good. Now I want cake!
i love lemon cake with a lemon and almond cream cheese drizzle
I love making cakes and would LOVE a copy of the book! My favorite cakes are pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting and german chocolate cake!
Looks yummy! I’ve yet to make a layered cake from scratch!
Red velvet with half buttercream, half cream cheese fristing. Yum!!
Cherrychip
I love chocolate cake!
My sister in law says that my love language is baking for people, I most definitely agree! If only I had more than 2 square feet of countertop space in my kitchen, I would bake for everyone! My most favorite cake is German Chocolate!
Everything is better with buttercream frosting.
vanilla. Raspberry filling. Buttercream icing. Yum
Carrot Cake is my favorite choice, with a cream cheese frosting.
I love her cakes! My favorite cake is a chocolate with chocolate frosting! Yummmmmm!
I love carrot cake and it’s delicious frosting!! Love German Chocolate cake too!
Yum! I love everything about this cake
I adore chocolate so Im going to have to say double chocolate for me. But pumpkin with buttercream is a close second….especially in the fall!
love Mayonnaise cake
Every year I lived at home my Mom made me chocolate mayonnaise cake with pink peppermint frosting for my birthday. All I can say is yummy!!!
I’m so glad there will now be a book featuring ‘surprise cakes’! My favorite cake as I was growing up was always ‘bolo xadrez’ (Portuguese for ‘marble cake’), but not just a normal marble cake – the one that always intrigued me and which I loved the most was the version my Mom made with checkered squares, alternating between vanilla and chocolate cake. I was always amazed looking at a slice and how it was possible to do that! I soon found out that it’s all about the equipment (and technique!), and to this day I still make that same cake for special occasions! I would love a recipe book with more ideas for me to try 🙂
My favorite cake is a white cake with white frosting, just like this one! Don’t care for any fancy fillings or adornments. I don’t make cakes much anymore, but I know that will change since I have two new grandsons.
i love to make and share German chocolate ice cream cake with a from scratch filling and pudding cream frosting! 2 and 3 layer cakes are the bomb.
I love cakes and baking them! (A wonderful tradition passed down to me by my beloved Grandmother!)
As to picking what would be my absolute, favorite cake… that is such a hard decision to make.
If I had to choose just one, I’d say my favorite would be an Italian Cream .. with a moist, luscious Red Velvet running close behind! <3
I’ve been a chef for years but just recently getting into baking. My newest favorite cake is lemon! With extra lemon! Hahah!
I absolutely fell in love with a white almond wedding cake with raspberry filling. It was just the right amount of moist deliciousness! I am a baking enthusiast and love experimenting with new cake recipes!
I love love LOVE chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!!! I’m obsessed with cakes in general. I love to bake and cakes have been my go to. The post of this two layer cake looks DELISH!
absolutely LOVE vanilla bean cake…plain and simple with a lovely white buttercream icing…..would love to try my hand at a surprise cake! Very cool indeed!
Love a chocolate cake with white fluffy icing top with coconut.
Love chocolate cake with white fluffy icing top with coconut
I’m undecided on my favorite cake: lemon bundt cake with lemon glaze our red velvet cake with sore cream frosting! I’m not undecided about winning a cookbook though, that world be neat!
I usually like a basic white cake with white frosting, although I do love chocolate and peanut butter combinations too.
This is hard! I so love chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
German chocolate cake!
My favorite is angel food cake, I haven’t ever actually made it from scratch though. 🙂 Thanks for the chance to win.
I love white cake with whipped cream frosting.
I love Tres Leches cake!
White cake with buttercream icing….yum! This book looks amazing 🙂
Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting is my absolute favorite cake.
What a beautiful book! My favorite cake is yellow with almond frosting.
Yellow cake butter cream icing
I love strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. 🙂
This cake is making me want to go home from work and bake. I love yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. My mom’s was the best.
Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, raspberry filling. 🙂
My favorite cake, hands down is Red Velvet Cheesecake. A delish baked cheesecake gently hidden between two decatant red velvet cakes. All of this smothered in a creamy butter cream frosting! I would love this book to help add to my gift options!
Chocolate cake with 7minute frosting. Yum!
A New York style cheesecake is my absolute favorite. It’s funny since I make everyone else’s birthday cakes/cupcakes but I don’t eat them.
I love chocolate cake with a delicious buttercream frosting
I don’t have a favorite cake but I love birthdays and creating fun cakes!! My favorite was probably the toy story cake I made…it turned out much better than I thought it would!
Red Velvet
I’ve always been a fan of white cake – it sounds simple but, if it’s done right, I think it’s the best!
Pineapple upside down cake is my favorite cake. I always hold my breath when I flip the cake! Homemade cakes have always held a special place in my heart for special family occasions!
I love white cake with chocolate icing.
My favorite ‘cake’ is cheesecake. Yum! I am just really afraid to try and make my own. 🙂
I’m on a quest to find THE best white genoise for cake … Well THE ONE that will remember my bf good memories … ahhh mens…. sometimes so complicated! Anyway I’m pretty sure I would flabbergast my young daughter with this kind of cake ! WOW
I love lemon and poppy seed loaf so refreshing
I’m such a boring person (and my family makes fun of me) but my all time favorite is white cake with white frosting.
I would LOVE to win this awesome book; I’ve had my eye on it for a bit! My favorite cake would have to be a yellow cake with chocolate or ganache frosting. Simple, but sooo delicious! Thank you for all your wonderful recipes, you’ve helped to make my family happy!
I love yellow cake with chocolate frosting or chocolate cake with white frosting.
My absolute favorite is chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and some rainbow sprinkles a slice always makes me feel like a unicorn 🙂
Never met a cake that I didn’t like!!!
I love this cake but I would have to give up eating all day for just one piece. I just might have to do that. Sounds crazy but anyway we can lighten up the calories and fat content. I am a senior citizen but love your site. I love to cook and bake things and take them to work to share with everyone and see the smiles on their faces. It makes my day.
I am a total sucker for red velvet and any type of cheesecake. I would love to be able to make fancier cakes.
I love chocolate cake with chocolate icing!!
My favorite cake is super moist from scratch chocolate cake using the recipe that my mil shared with me. So chcolatey and moist. I’ve been eyeing this book on Amazon and would love to win it!
Oh, this is a hard one! I really like red velvet cake with a good cream cheese icing…but I’ve never tried to make one! I also love chocolate cake with creamy peanut butter frosting!
Hi Maureen, I’m not sure how we could lighten up the calories and still have the same great taste!! You are a girl after my own heart…..I would give up my meals for the day to have a big slice of cake!! (And I love extra frosting too!!) Thanks so much for your sweet comments!
Cyd (mom of the Six Sisters)