Some time back I posted a homemade yellow cake mix. I promised I’d post a white cake mix (and someone reminded me in a comment just the other day), so here it is! Any cake is better from scratch, and if you like to keep homemade mixes on-hand to make life easier on busy days, this makes a perfect cake every time without having to resort to a box from the store–and fast.
Box mixes include a lot of powdered stuff. That’s how you can just add water, oil, and a couple eggs and throw it in the oven. I’m going to give you two versions so you can choose whether or not you want to use powdered milk. If you have milk in the fridge, it’s really not that much trouble to measure out the milk than it is to measure water, but sometimes you might be out of milk, so a powdered milk version can save the day. And powdered milk, of course, is what is in the boxes, so you’re still better off without the additional preservatives and artificial colorings! Also remember that if you’re using your homemade white cake mix in a recipe calling for a white cake mix, the recipe will assume you’re using a store-bought mix that includes powdered milk.
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How to make Homemade White Cake Mix:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour OR 2 3/4 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup non-fat dried milk or powdered buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Combine the ingredients. Store in a sealed, labeled container or baggie with the directions to make the cake. (This mix will fit in a quart-size baggie, just barely.) If you want to double, triple, or more the mix to make in bulk and keep it all in one big container, stir the mix well and measure out 5 cups of mix each time you make a cake (or a bit more if you used cake flour).
To replace in recipes calling for a store-bought white cake mix:
Use in any recipe calling for a white cake mix as a base (add 1 teaspoon vanilla to the recipe along with the cake mix as the recipe will assume powdered vanilla flavoring was included in the store-bought mix).
Or to make a basic white cake using your homemade mix, use the following instructions.
Cake mix directions:
1 recipe Homemade White Cake Mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup shortening or lard
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine all the ingredients. Beat to mix on low, then beat on high for two minutes. Pour into greased, floured cake pans. Bake at 350-degrees.
8″ or 9″ cake rounds — 20-25 minutes
13 x 9 pan — 35-40 minutes
cupcakes — 12-15 minutes
tube/bundt pan — 45-50 minutes
Don’t overbake! You’ll dry out your cake.
To make this mix without using powdered milk:
Delete the dried milk from the mix ingredients. When preparing the cake, replace the 1 1/4 cups water with 1 1/3 cups milk or buttermilk. I’ve also used coconut milk with this recipe. You can use any kind of milk you want.
Just remember that recipes calling for a store-bought white cake mix are going to assume the mix contains powdered milk. Also remember, if you make the mix in bulk, instead of measuring out 5 cups per cake, you’d measure out 4 1/2 cups (to make up for the 1/2 cup powdered milk that’s not in there).
By the way, you don’t have to waste all those egg yolks! You can freeze eggs yolks, egg whites, and even whole eggs. Next time you’re making a recipe that calls for egg yolks, your white cake leftover yolks will come in handy. See how to freeze eggs.
I made a Lady Baltimore Cake this weekend, using my white cake mix (and coconut milk, not powdered milk), with Seven-Minute Icing.
You can find all of these recipes at Farm Bell Recipes for the handy print pages and to save them to your recipe box:
Homemade White Cake Mix
Lady Baltimore Cake
Seven-Minute Icing
Happy homemade mixing!
See All My Recipes
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BeverlyC says:
FYI: there’s a problem w/ the link for the mix (was able to go to FBRecipes & get it from there)
PERFECT timing! I’m planning on making my mom & dad a coconut cake this week & was wanting it to be “from scratch”! It will be my 1st time making coconut….wish me luck…..errr…better yet, wish my parents luck! 😉
On April 5, 2011 at 1:32 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
Thank you, Beverly! I fixed it. Try using coconut milk, too, for extra coconutty flavor!
On April 5, 2011 at 6:38 am
Linda Goble says:
Looks so yummy!!!! Do you think you can use canola oil instead of shortening? I try not to use shortening cause of the hydrogenated oil. or maybe substitute butter? :hungry:
On April 5, 2011 at 8:24 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
Linda, I would use lard instead of butter because the butter will affect the “whiteness” of the cake, but you could use butter if you want.
holstein woman, yes, you could add cocoa powder!
On April 5, 2011 at 9:21 am
holstein woman says:
Thank you Suzanne, this sounds delicous, do you make a chocolate? I have to go look at your recipes and see for myself.
On April 5, 2011 at 8:24 am
holstein woman says:
Ok, I looked, why can’t I use the white cake mix and add 1 cup chocolate powder like in your Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake? Should work, yes???
On April 5, 2011 at 8:28 am
Window On The Prairie says:
Ok, now that I found out I can convert this into a chocolate cake, I’m sold. I need a chocolate fix. Today…well every day.
Suzanne
On April 5, 2011 at 9:58 am
MousE says:
This is a great time-saver, thank you!
On April 5, 2011 at 10:18 am
morningstar says:
Suzanne, could I use meringue powder for the egg whites in this recipe? I always have that on hand, and don’t always have the eggs.
On April 5, 2011 at 10:21 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
morningstar, I don’t know, but that sounds doable. Let me know if that works if you try it!
On April 5, 2011 at 10:25 am
Ro Parker says:
Hi,
Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your website! So tell me how much cocoa would you put in your yellow cake mix to make chocolate cake?
On April 5, 2011 at 10:32 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
You can find my chocolate cake recipe here:
https://chickensintheroad.com/farm-bell-recipes/old-fashioned-chocolate-cake/
On April 5, 2011 at 10:48 am
Rolina Buelva says:
Hi Suzzane, i love browsing in ur page..ur cakes looks & sounds delicious! I’ll try making it when i got the time..
On April 5, 2011 at 11:05 am
Ramona says:
Looks good and thanks for the recipe.
On April 5, 2011 at 11:21 am
Tracey In Paradise Pa. says:
You read my mind..PERFECT!! I’m in the mood for cake. Its chilly and rainy here in Pa.
Granny Trace
http://www.grannytracescrapsandsquares.com
On April 5, 2011 at 11:39 am
lizzie says:
Thank you Suzanne!!! I use your yellow cake recipe all the time and its wonderful. Sam’s birthday is next Sunday and he wants an Angel Food Cake with Strawberries so I will have to freeze all the egg yolks. Wonder if you can make homemade cake flour? will have to check this out. Thanks again for the recipe!! :fairy:
On April 5, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Blessings from a Wildflower says:
Thanks, this is perfect for baking Easter Cakes!
~~HUGS~~
On April 5, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Darlene in North GA says:
Lizzie, yes you can. Look online for ingredient substitutions. I seem to remember it being: for 1 cup of cake flour, put 1 Tbs of cornstarch in the bottom of a 1 cup measure and then fill with regular AP flour. But please check as it’s been a LONG time since I looked at the substitution and I don’t make “from scratch” cakes too often. (And I never buy cake flour).
You might also be able to get away with using just “biscuit flour”. That’s a brand like White Lily or Martha White. They are lower protein flours. It’s the gluten in the wheat that you don’t want to get working with cakes and biscuits. You can look on the label of a package of name brand AP flour and then look for a different brand that has a much lower protein content. THAT’S the flour you want for biscuits, pastries and cakes. Biscuit flour probably going to be cheaper than “cake flour”. Again, you can pick up a box of cake flour and read the ingredients list as well as check the protein content.
On April 5, 2011 at 7:55 pm
Judy F says:
Has anyone tried to make these mixes using splenda instead of sugar for those of us who are diabetic?
On April 5, 2011 at 8:56 pm
BeverlyC says:
Thanks Suzanne 🙂 I thought I’d try the coconut milk. I’ve never used it but saw it mentioned in the post & thought “Ooooo, perfect for the coconut cake”.
On April 5, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Candace Gammel says:
Suzanne, is the powdered milk called for in the recipe INSTANT or NON instant powdered milk?
Thanks!
On April 8, 2011 at 5:51 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
I use the instant non-fat.
On April 8, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Erik says:
In your homemade yellow cake mix post, you noted that your recipe was a ‘small recipe’ meant to match the size of a typical box of cake mix from the store – you then included a ‘larger’ version for times when you wanted to make a regular ‘larger’ cake – is this white cake version closer to the smaller recipe on the yellow cake post? If so, do you have a larger version of this recipe?
On October 2, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
Hi, Erik! Sorry for the delay in replying! This mix is in between, so it works for a box cake mix recipe but also makes a good size cake on its own.
On October 4, 2011 at 3:00 pm
BitsyBet says:
Since I don’t cook with lard or shortening, can I substitute 1/3 cup of oil like the box mix calls for? I’m really wanting to use your cake mix alternative not only because it doesn’t have all the preservatives, but also because Betty Crocker has downsized their cake mixes to 15.25 ounces.
On February 19, 2013 at 8:57 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
BitsyBet, yes, you can.
On February 19, 2013 at 9:53 pm
Allishap7 says:
I live in a high dry altitude. I am kind of confused about how to correctly measure flour. I get a different weight each time I put flour into a 1 cup measure. Because I think I would have more consistent result with an actual weight, could you tell me how much the flour weighs for this recipe? Or how much 1 cup weighs?
Allisha
On May 9, 2013 at 12:05 am
RenitaMorton1979 says:
:fairy: If I wanted to use this recipe to make a 10x15x1 sheet cake, would I double the recipe? Or, would it be just 1.5 recipes? Making my sister’s birthday cake this weekend.
On May 27, 2013 at 3:13 pm
MmkHere says:
Would this be a replacement for an 18.25 oz or a 15.25 oz mix?
On December 24, 2013 at 6:26 pm