I've been in a cake baking mood lately, so as an excuse to post more cakes here's a six inch yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Some of the pictures are old and some are new. Same recipe. This is a basic, slightly crumbly (not dry) yellow cake.
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This is scaled down (halved) from a regular 9 inch round sour cream yellow cake and frosted with my usual favorite chocolate frosting.
The recipe is pretty simple, but it does require cake flour, lots of sifting and beating the egg whites separately, so it's not a dump in the pan and bake type of cake. It's best to make this when you have some spare time and feel like some mindful baking. Here's the old pic. Doesn't look like I was very mindful when I frosted that! Just kidding. It tasted good, but I could have smoothed it out more.
More Photos
Here are a few shots of steps taken along the way. I didn't take pictures of every step, but maybe seeing the size of the cake pans and the way the egg whites are beaten will be helpful. The batter is fairly thick.
- Step 1: Grease and flour two six inch round cake pans.
- Step 2: Sift the flour baking powder and then whisk in the salt.
- Step 3: Beat the egg whites and set aside.
- Step 4: Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the yolks and vanilla, add the dry ingredients and sour cream, then fold in the egg whites.
Recipe
Six Inch Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 T. sifted cake flour (sifted before measuring) (114 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large large egg whites
- 1 stick unsalted butter room temperature** (114 grams)
- 1 cup sugar (200 grams)
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup sour cream (114 grams)
Chocolate Frosting
- 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter softened (114 grams)
- 1 ½ tablespoon of sour cream room temperature (about 25 grams)
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar sift or aerate before using (300 grams)
- ¾ cup natural style cocoa powder, I recommend sifting (60 grams)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 to 6 tablespoons whole milk or cream or half & half room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 6-inch round metal cake pans.
- Sift your cake flour and weigh it to make sure you are using 114 grams, then sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the salt and stir until thoroughly blended.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and continue to beat for about 3 minutes, scraping the bowl often. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating until blended, then beat in the vanilla.
- Fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture alternately with the sour cream, scraping bowl often. When everything is thoroughly blended, beat with the electric mixer for 30-40 seconds, scraping bowl.
- Using a heavy duty scraper, fold in the beaten egg whites.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pans (about 10 oz per pan) and smooth evenly.
- Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until cakes spring back when touched. Let cool for 10 minutes, then carefully turn from pans onto a rack. Make the frosting.
Chocolate Frosting
- Note: Be sure to measure your confectioners' sugar carefully. I recommend taking the time to sift it for frosting. Also, sift the cocoa if it is lumpy.
- Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. The butter should not be too cold, nor should it be melted.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the butter, sour cream, sugar, cocoa, salt and 2 tablespoons of the milk until it all starts to come together as a thick sludge.
- When everything is sticking together, add the vanilla. Increase mixer speed and beat until smooth, scraping bowl and adding more half and half (or milk and cream) as needed until you get your desired texture consistency. Spread over the cake.
Notes
Anna says
Sue, if you weigh the flour you can sift it once just to remove lumps. I sifted mine to remove lumps, weighed it to make sure it was 118 grams, then sifted it again with the baking powder just because my sifter was in front of me and I felt like it.
Sue says
What’s the reason for sifting the flour twice?
Anna says
Lisa, check Amazon. I believe that's where I bought my pair. Wilton also makes them and you can sometimes find them and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Pretty sure Michael's has them too. The good thing is they seem to be a lot more common.
Lisa A Langston says
There is no such thing as "TOO MUCH CAKE"!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love cake! Where did you find your 6" cake pans?
Sue says
With just two of us I really should get some six inch cake pans. My bakeware cupboard is overflowing but surely they would nest inside of something else!
The cake and frosting both look excellent.