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    Home » Desserts

    Dense Homemade Super Moist Yellow Cake From Scratch

    Last Updated : Feb 23, 2024. This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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    Homemade dense and super moist yellow cake from scratch (vanilla flavored) is simple and easy to make and you can frost it with chocolate frosting (chocolate icing) or vanilla icing as you like. Make it a simple one layered cake following this recipe or double the recipe to make two layers of yellow cakes and add the chocolate frosting to make it perfect for birthday parties, wedding anniversary etc! This is a dense yellow butter cake recipe which yields a delicious yellow butter cake which is extra moist in texture and which can be easily made at home.

    super moist yellow cake recipe scratch image

    Also, try my moist chocolate cake & evaporated milk cake which are also super easy to make and taste delicious! Super moist, delicious simple yellow butter cake recipe for beginners can be easily followed with using just basic ingredients (this recipe is updated recently for even better results). The result is a dense but soft, moist and delicious yellow butter cake which can be served to guests even with out any extra cream or toppings. However adding the chocolate frosting is perfect and classic for yellow cakes! You may also make easy moist yellow butter cakes from the best moist yellow butter cake mix available online. This recipe for super moist yellow cake yields is a small yellow butter cake which can be served for 6 to 8 people.

    Contents hide
    1 tips to make the best moist yellow butter cake
    2 how to make super moist yellow cake from scratch?
    3 ingredients used to make moist yellow cake
    4 step by step instructions
    5 frosting ideas for homemade yellow cake
    6 frosting recipes for the cake:
    7 can you double the yellow cake recipe?
    8 easy & moist cake recipes:
    9 Dense Homemade Super Moist Yellow Cake From Scratch
    9.1 Ingredients
    9.2 Instructions
    9.2.1 To make the yellow cake batter
    9.2.2 To bake the yellow cake
    9.3 Notes
    9.4 Nutrition

    tips to make the best moist yellow butter cake

    The cake is naturally dense and moist in texture and delicious in taste. This cake tends to rise in the middle where it is very soft, dense and moist.

    super moist yellow cake recipe scratch

    The natural light yellow color of the cake is from the fresh butter and yolks of the fresh eggs used in the yellow butter cake recipe. Yellow cakes can be made using butter or oil. And butter cakes are always made using butter as you guess. So a yellow butter cake is a yellow cake made using butter (no oil is used here). As I already mentioned, the natural color of this yellow cake comes from the yolk of the whole fresh eggs used and also the butter. But you may also use few drops of yellow food coloring if you want to add more color. There are different kinds of yellow food colors available online, most popular ones include egg shade yellow color and lemon yellow color. For this yellow butter cake recipe, I suggest using egg shade yellow color or this regular yellow food color, if you want to use food color. Make sure you use all the ingredients at room temperature, or it may affect the results.

    how to make super moist yellow cake from scratch?

    To make the best, moist yellow butter cake (vanilla flavored) we use the following ingredients.

    ingredients used to make moist yellow cake

    • 1.5 cups all purpose flour (plus a little extra flour for dusting the pan)
    • 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 cup sugar
    • ½ cup butter softened
    • 2 large eggs room temperature
    • ¾ cup whole milk
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 2 drops yellow food color (optional) or use according to package instructions

    step by step instructions

    To make the yellow cake batter

    • Mix the flour and baking powder in a large bowl.
    • In another bowl, beat the eggs very well.
    • In a third bowl, add the softened butter and sugar and beat well until they are well combined.
    • Combine the beaten eggs and butter sugar mixture and mix all ingredients well.
    • Also add the milk and vanilla extract to the egg butter sugar mixture, and mix well to combine. If you are using yellow food color, you may add the food color also to the milk.
    • Pour this wet ingredients mixture to the dry flour mixture, and mix well to make the cake batter.
    • Do not overly mix the batter, but make sure there are no lumps formed in the batter and also make sure there is no dry flour left at the bottom of the bowl.
    • The texture of the cake batter is slightly thick since this is a dense yellow cake.
    • However, it is not supposed to be super thick, so if you think the batter turned too thick (it also depends on the flour and other ingredients that you use), you may add a little more milk to the batter and mix well to combine.
    • Do not add a lot of milk, but just add about one tablespoon of milk at a time, mix with the batter and only add one spoon of milk if necessary.
    • The batter is supposed to be thick but you should be able to pour the batter to the pan easily, which is the right consistency of batter for this cake recipe.

    To bake the yellow cake

    • Preheat the oven to 300 degree Fahrenheit.
    • Grease the cake pan with butter and dust with little flour (may also use parchment paper and cake strips for the pan if you can to make it even better).
    • Now transfer the prepared cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes in the oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. My cake was done in 50 minutes of time.
    • Sometimes oven temperatures and baking times can vary depending on the oven, so it is a good idea to check the cake after about 35 to 40 minutes of time, since overbaking can cause the cake to dry out.
    • Once the cake is done, transfer it from the hot oven and allow the cake to cool down completely before you transfer it for frosting (its delicious even without any frosting) or slicing.

    Here are more pictures of how the homemade yellow butter cake turned out.

    very moist yellow cake recipe scratch

    You can see the texture of the yellow butter cake below!

    very moist yellow cake recipe scratch photo

    This butter cake has got a wonderful texture and it is really dense, moist, soft and delicious.

    frosting ideas for homemade yellow cake

    As I mentioned earlier, this simple homemade yellow cake is so delicious and moist, you can just enjoy it even without any frosting. That's what we mostly do in our family and my kids love it! However, sometimes I do frosting as well and though its a single layered cake, its easy to frosting or icing for this cake. If I want to frost this yellow cake, what I do is I slice the cake into two layers (this is easy for me because its a dense cake) and apply any frosting that I like. To add the frosting, I simply add the filling filling first by adding the frosting on the first layer, then place the second layer of cake on top and add more frosting on top of the second cake layer.

    To make it even more fancy and decorated, we can add any easy toppings like fresh fruits, chocolate swirls, rainbow sprinkles etc or you can also add decorative designs as you like. Though different kinds of frosting go great with yellow cake, cream cheese frosting is my favorite and chocolate cream frosting will be the ideal one! You can find homemade frosting recipes here for the cake and you can choose whichever you like the best.

    frosting recipes for the cake:

    • Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
    • Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
    • Vanilla Whipped Cream Frosting

    can you double the yellow cake recipe?

    This is a single layer yellow cake and as I mentioned above, if I want two layers of cake, I usually slice the cake in half and then frost as usual. It is so easy to slice the cake in half since the cake is dense in texture and usually there is enough cake even when you slice this in half. However if you want more of this, I recommend making the batter in two different batches instead of doubling the ingredients and making the batter.

    This is because, this is a dense cake and when you double the ingredients there is a chance that the batter may become even more thicker and little difficult to handle. To avoid this, you can always make the batter in two different bowls as two batches for making two different yellow cakes. However, in case you want to try doubling the recipe and if its too thick, you may add a little more milk to adjust the consistency of the batter if its too thick.

    One user from Pinterest has mentioned that she used Greek yogurt as an extra ingredient when she doubled the recipe to loosen up the batter and it turned out so delicious! So I guess it is possible to double the recipe but you may want to work around a little in case the batter is too thick.

    easy & moist cake recipes:

    • moist chocolate cake recipe
    • sweet potato cake with cream cheese frosting
    • fluffy vanilla cake recipe without eggs
    • moist fruit cake
    • moist applesauce cake (vegan)
    • semolina yogurt cake
    • eggless mango semolina cake

    Below you can read the moist dense yellow vanilla cake (butter cake) recipe.

    super moist yellow cake recipe scratch
    Print Recipe
    4.74 from 52 votes

    Dense Homemade Super Moist Yellow Cake From Scratch

    Easy, dense and moist homemade yellow cake made from scratch makes the perfect simple and delicious dessert.
    Recipe updated recently for even better results!
    Prep Time10 minutes mins
    Cook Time50 minutes mins
    Total Time1 hour hr
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: dense vanilla cake recipe, dense yellow cake, homemade yellow cake, moist yellow cake, yellow cake from scratch, yellow cake recipe
    Servings: 8
    Calories: 317kcal
    Author: PA

    Ingredients

    • 1.5 cups all purpose flour (plus a little extra flour for dusting the pan)
    • 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 cup sugar
    • ½ cup butter softened
    • 2 large eggs room temperature
    • ¾ cup whole milk
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 2 drops yellow food color (optional) or use according to package instructions
    US Customary - Metric

    Instructions

    To make the yellow cake batter

    • In a bowl, mix flour and baking powder together.
    • Beat the eggs and keep aside.
    • In another bowl, add the softened butter and sugar, beat well until well combined.
    • Add the beaten eggs to the butter sugar mixture and whisk together to mix all ingredients well.
    • Now add the milk and vanilla extract to the bowl, and mix well (add the food color also to the milk if you are using it).
    • Slowly add this wet mixture to the dry flour mixture, stirring in between so that no lumps are formed. Combine everything together to form the batter.
      The texture of the cake batter is slightly thick since this is a dense yellow cake. However, it is not supposed to be super thick, so if you think the batter turned too thick (it also depends on the flour and other ingredients that you use), you may add a little more milk to the batter and mix well to combine. Do not add a lot of milk, but just add about one tablespoon of milk at a time, mix with the batter and only add one spoon of milk if necessary. The batter is supposed to be thick but you should be able to pour the batter to the pan easily, which is the right consistency of batter for this cake recipe.

    To bake the yellow cake

    • Preheat oven to 300 degree Fahrenheit.
    • Prepare the cake pan (9 inch round cake pan will be perfect) by greasing with butter and dusting with little flour. You can also line the bottom of the baking pan with parchment paper which will help you to transfer the cake easily once it is baked. Also put the cake strips around the pan for even baking if you want a perfect flat level cake- make sure you follow the directions mentioned in the strips you are using.
    • Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake this for about 45 to 50 minutes in the oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine was done in 50 minutes of time.
      Sometimes oven temperatures and baking times can vary depending on the oven, so it is a good idea to check the cake after about 35 to 40 minutes of time, since overbaking can cause the cake to dry out.
    • As soon as the cake is done, transfer it from the hot oven, allow the cake to cool down completely before you try to take it out of the pan or slice it.

    Notes

    If the cake batter turns out too thick (this is a dense cake recipe and the batter is kind of thick), however if it is too thick (depends on the flour and other ingredients), you may add a little more milk, one tablespoon at a time, to the batter and mix well to combine to make the batter.
    Also, as I have mentioned above in the instructions, oven temperatures may vary and the time to bake the cake can also slightly vary.
    It is best to check the cake after about 35 minutes to see if its done, and only bake further if its not completely done.
    This is because, overbaking the cake can turn the texture of the cake to be dry and hard so quickly, which we do not want!
    Since this is a moist cake, make sure to grease the pan properly and also dust the pan nicely with flour before you pour the batter. 
    You can also line the pan with a parchment paper if you can which will help you to transfer the cake easily.
    If you are not using parchment paper and if the cake sticks to the pan, you can run a butter knife through the edges of the pan which will release the cake from the sides.
    Then keep the pan upside down on a clean surface, rack or plate where you wish to transfer the cake. After a few minutes, gently tap on the top of the pan which should easily release the cake onto the surface.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 317kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 119mg | Potassium: 157mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 459IU | Calcium: 75mg | Iron: 1mg

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    Comments

    1. Cindy Gath says

      October 04, 2019 at 1:15 pm

      What size pan?

      Reply
      • Recipe Garden says

        October 04, 2019 at 4:50 pm

        Hi Cindy, a 9 inch round cake pan is what I recommend. I will update this in the blog post as well. Thanks for asking!

        Reply
        • Tara Nuncio says

          October 05, 2022 at 9:51 am

          Can i use this recipe to make cupcakes? If so, what would the cook time be and do you still do 300 for temp??

          Reply
          • Recipe Garden says

            October 05, 2022 at 10:01 am

            Yes, I think you can make cupcakes using the same batter though I haven't tried myself. If you are fine with testing it out, I would recommend using a temperature of 350 degree Fahrenheit and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Keep in mind that this is what I think will work and I haven't tried it out myself. If I make cupcakes with this batter, I will update it in the post. If you do try making cupcakes, please let me know how it turned out! Thank you.

            Reply
            • Meg says

              April 29, 2023 at 7:17 pm

              I make cupcakes with this recipe often. I still put the oven at 300, and about 30-35 min is usually perfect (about 25 min if I'm doing mini-cupcakes. Makes a perfect dozen standard size cupcakes, but is too much for 24 minis (I end up making 4 standard size alongside the minis, so if I did all minis, it would probably be 34-36)

            • Recipe Garden says

              May 01, 2023 at 8:56 am

              Hi Meg, Thank you so much for sharing this, it will be much helpful for the readers 🙂 Thanks again, I very much appreciate the feedback and tips!

      • Maxi says

        April 23, 2020 at 3:34 pm

        9 or 10 inch

        Reply
    2. Bobbi says

      November 24, 2019 at 8:30 am

      Is this cake just one layer?
      Also, what did you frost it with?

      Reply
      • Recipe Garden says

        November 24, 2019 at 3:30 pm

        Hi Bobbi, Yes the cake is one layer. I didn't frost it. But you can use any frosting you like. I have easy frosting recipes in the blog which you can use if you like. I recommend cream cheese frosting (https://recipe-garden.com/vanilla-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/). Thank you.

        Reply
    3. Zoe says

      January 04, 2020 at 1:38 pm

      Hi. Is the butter for this recipe unsalted or just regular butter?

      Reply
      • Recipe Garden says

        January 05, 2020 at 1:11 am

        Hi Zoe, its unsalted butter. Thank you

        Reply
    4. Lauren says

      April 03, 2020 at 3:13 pm

      Hi can you use cake flour instead of all purpose flour? If you can how much?

      Reply
      • Recipe Garden says

        April 03, 2020 at 3:23 pm

        Hi Lauren, yes you may use cake flour instead of all purpose flour. It should be fine. The texture of the cake maybe more lighter when you use cake flour. If you try it, please let me know 🙂

        Reply
    5. Jasmine says

      April 08, 2020 at 11:58 am

      How much sugar? I don’t see the amount on the ingredients

      Reply
      • Recipe Garden says

        April 08, 2020 at 2:15 pm

        I used 1 cup sugar for this recipe. It is there in the ingredients list. Thank you.

        Reply
    6. W T Ballard says

      October 19, 2020 at 12:37 pm

      Cake was a little bit dry . Otherwise tastes great. How do I fix dry, oily deal?and had a slight oily outside feel . I did leave in oven 5 minutes past dry toothpick

      Reply
      • Recipe Garden says

        October 19, 2020 at 9:09 pm

        The texture of this cake is moist, it is not supposed to be dry. I guess the slightly dry/oily texture could be because the cake was left in the oven for few more minutes after its done, as you have mentioned. Overbaking can result in dry cakes. For the best results, please make sure to transfer the cake immediately from the hot oven once its baked. I am glad to hear it still tasted great! Thank you so much for your feedback 🙂

        Reply
    7. Lee M. says

      November 23, 2020 at 12:20 pm

      I followed this recipe exactly and it came out very dry. Very disappointed.

      Reply
      • Recipe Garden says

        November 23, 2020 at 1:36 pm

        Hi Lee, I am very sorry to hear that. I wonder if the cake got overbaked which could lead to a dry texture. Oven temperatures may vary and so can affect the baking times. I have updated the notes on this in the post. This is the cake recipe I usually use to make moist cakes and so I am kind of surprised, but I guess this could happen if the cake was baked before the expected time. This may happen depending on the oven, since the temperatures can vary in different ovens and so I think it is a good idea to check the cake early. Thank you for letting me know.

        Reply
    8. AnnM says

      March 24, 2023 at 9:34 pm

      Hi
      Wondering if this recipe would work in a sheet pan and if yes how large of a sheet pan ?
      Thank you !
      AM

      Reply
      • Recipe Garden says

        March 24, 2023 at 10:13 pm

        Hi, I am sorry I haven't tried this recipe with sheet pan. I would recommend looking into sheet pan cake recipes or you may experiment with the recipe if you wish. I guess the baking time and oven temperature might vary if you use a different cake pan. Thank you.

        Reply
    9. Bdabride says

      April 03, 2023 at 9:37 pm

      Just 2 questions, 300 is a bit low for baking cakes. I usually see 350. Is there a reason for a lower temp? Also I don’t see any salt in the ingredients and the butter is unsalted. Is there some other ingredient to add salt? I did add 1/2 tsp of salt. I’m baking it now and can’t wait til it’s done. Thank you!

      Reply
      • Recipe Garden says

        April 03, 2023 at 10:57 pm

        I didn't feel like I miss salt in this recipe as the taste and texture is fine without using salt but you may try and see how it works for you 🙂 I tried baking this cake at 350 degree before and while it rises fast initially at this temperature it tends to sink in the middle eventually. To avoid that from happening, I bake this at 300 degree Fahrenheit and it works perfectly every time! Hope I answered your questions. Thank you!!

        Reply
    4.74 from 52 votes (51 ratings without comment)

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