My Winter Wonderland White Cake is perfect for the upcoming holiday season, no matter how you celebrate it. Light and fluffy with a tender crumb, my vanilla cake is a time-tested recipe that your whole family will love and look forward to every year.
You can decorate this delicious, moist white cake for the season, birthdays, or any holiday. Imagine my winter cake as a blank canvas. Enjoy making it for any occasion or just to treat your family to a special dessert.
What’s on your holiday dessert menu this year? What’s on your holiday dessert menu this year? This is the perfect cake for the holidays, winter season or just to amaze your friends and family; it’s light, fluffy, festive, and delicious!
My Cannoli Cake and Pumpkin Crunch Cake are two of my other holiday favorites!
Ingredients to make a Winter Wonderland Cake
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my Winter Wonderland White Cake recipe. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
What type of flour makes the best cakes?
Cake flour is my flour of choice when iI want to bake a light, fluffy cake. Cake flour is very finely milled from soft winter wheat. It also has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour, making it finer, lighter, and softer.
How to make a Winter Wonderland Cake
The first step is preparing the pans for the white cake batter and preheating the oven.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease two round 9-inch cake pans.
- Place round pieces of parchment paper in the bottom of each cake pan and grease the parchment paper.
- Flour the bottom and sides of the cake pans by tapping a spoonful of flour around to coat. Discard any remaining flour.
- Add the egg whites, ¼ cup of milk, and the vanilla extract to a measuring cup
- Whisk the ingredients together to combine, then set aside until needed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer), combine the dry ingredients on low speed for 30 seconds.
- Add in the butter and the remaining ½ cup of milk to the dry ingredients.
- Mix on low speed just until moistened. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 ½ minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer on medium speed, add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
- Divide the batter evenly into the cake pans using an offset spatula to level the batter. You can weigh the cake pans on a kitchen scale to ensure even layers.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Be very careful not to overbake.
- Let the layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then loosen the sides of the cakes with a small knife or spatula and invert the cakes onto a cooling rack.
- Gently re-flip the cakes so that the top of the cakes is facing up. Let the cakes cool completely.
How do I make vanilla frosting?
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the butter on medium speed until pale and creamy, about 8 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add in the remaining ingredients and mix for 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and whip until the frosting is very light and fluffy, about 6 minutes.
How to assemble the Winter Wonderland Cake
- Place the first cake layer flat side up on a cake stand (or any dish that you will be serving it on).
- Place about 1 cup of frosting on the top and frost the cake by spreading it evenly with an offset spatula.
- Gently place the 2nd cake layer top/rounded side down on top.
- Place a small amount of frosting on top of the cake and create a crumb coat by spreading the frosting thinly over the top and sides with a small offset spatula. Place in the refrigerator and chill for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the refrigerator, then add the remaining frosting on top of the cake and spread it evenly over the top and sides. You can make the frosting textured to look like freshly fallen snow, as I did, or make it smooth.
- Decorate the cake with your choice of holiday sprinkles
My Winter Wonderland cake is one of the most requested cakes I get asked to make during the holiday season. I love that I can decorate it with different sprinkles or toppings depending on the holiday. And did I mention it’s delicious?
Recipe FAQ’s
A white cake uses egg whites instead of the whole egg. Some bakers will use half shortening and half butter to get a whiter color to the cake layer.
White and vanilla cake are created from the same ingredients, the only difference is a yellow cake will use the whole egg. The yolk of the egg gives the cake a yellow color.
No, you don’t if you don’t mind a yellow cake. If you do use the whole egg, reduce the number of eggs used to 4.
Yes, you can. Try adding chocolate chips to the cake or sprinkles to make a funfetti cake.
Whether you’re looking for a beautiful holiday dessert or just dreaming of a Winter Wonderland, try making this cake to share with your family and friends.
The best part about this cake is that it’s a blank canvas ready for your decorations. It’s the perfect cake for any holiday or occasion!
More Cake Recipes You’ll Love!
Winter Wonderland White Cake
Ingredients
White Cake:
- 5 large egg whites at room temperature
- ¾ cup whole milk divided, at room temperature
- 2½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups cake flour sifted then spooned & leveled
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon PLUS 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature and cubed, 1 ½ sticks
Vanilla Frosting
- 1 ½ cups PLUS 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened but cool, 3 sticks
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar sifted
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Assembly
- winter sprinkles of your choice for decoration optional
Instructions
White Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two round 9-inch cake pans. Place round pieces of parchment paper in the bottom of each cake pan and grease the parchment paper. Flour the bottom and sides of the cake pans by tapping a spoonful of flour around to coat. Discard any remaining flour.
- In a measuring cup, whisk together the egg whites, ¼ cup of milk, and the vanilla. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients on low speed for 30 seconds.
- Add in the butter and the remaining ½ cup of milk. Mix on low speed just until moistened. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 ½ minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
- Divide the batter evenly into the cake pans using an offset spatula to level the batter. You can weigh the cake pans on a kitchen scale to ensure even layers.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Be very careful not to over bake! Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides of the cakes with a small knife or spatula and invert cakes onto greased wire racks. Gently re-flip the cakes so that the top of the cakes are facing up. Let cakes cool completely.
Vanilla Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the butter on medium speed until pale and creamy, about 8 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add in the remaining ingredients and mix for 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and whip until frosting is very light and fluffy, about 6 minutes.
Assembly
- Place the bottom cake layer bottom/flat side down on a cake stand (or any dish that you will be serving it on).
- Place about 1 cup of frosting on the top and spread it evenly with an offset spatula.
- Gently place the 2nd cake layer top/rounded side down on top.
- Place a small amount of frosting on top of the cake and create a crumb coat by spreading the frosting thinly over the top and sides with a small offset spatula. Place in the refrigerator and chill for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Place remaining frosting on top of the cake and spread it evenly over the top and sides. You can make the frosting textured to look like freshly fallen snow, as I did, or make it smooth.
- Decorate the cake with winter style sprinkles of your choice
Kate
Hello, can you explain your method of “shaving” down the rounded top of the cake so it’s flat enough to place it top down on the first layer? I’m a fairly inexperienced baker and have run into this problem when baking layer cakes in the past. I’d love to try this recipe.
Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley
I didn’t have to cut down the cakes, they did not dome. I did turn the cake upside down as explained in the instructions.
If your cake does dome follow these instructions.
Using a slow sawing motion, slice the dome off with a thin serrated knife. Try to cut off as little as possible to maintain the height of your cake. Make sure to keep the knife level. Use the serrated knife to lift the dome slightly, then slide a Cake Circle underneath to remove the dome.
Denise
This was delicious but your Pumpkin Crunch Cake is OVER THE TOP amazing and a repeat during the holidays!
Khushnoor
Hello sir, is there any substitute for white eggs?
Chef Dennis Littley
There are a few options to use instead of egg whites. The best substitute is Aquafaba (liquid in canned chick peas). Use 2 tablespoons of aquafaba per egg white.
Crystal
I have a question. Is there enough batter to where I would be able to use 3 9in pans instead of 2? I don’t want the layers to be too thin. I want to make one layer red, leave the middle white and then the 3rd layer green.
Chef Dennis Littley
they are pretty thick layers so I would say yes, You would cut down each layer by 1/3 and that would make the extra layer. If you want to make the cake more impressive, I would simply make an additional half of the cake recipe and make a third full layer.
Crystal
Would you mind giving me the measurements for the half recipe? I’m just confused about how to get 2.5 egg whites and I don’t want to mess up the cake. I’m new to baking so I would definitely appreciate the help.
Chef Dennis Littley
The recipe would have to be tested a few times for exact measurements for half the recipe. If you’re worried about it not coming out, make the whole recipe and freeze one of the layers for another time. That being said using 3 egg whites would not affect the recipe.
Janice
I would love to make this beautiful cake. Top of the recipe instructions call for 9 inch pans while bottom instructions say 8 inch. Can you please clarify? Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley
Sorry about that, it was my mistake. I always use 9-inch cake pans.
thanks for pointing that out
Janice
Thank you Chef Dennis for that quick reply! One more question; I don’t have a stand mixer, will a hand mixer work just as well?
Thanks again.
Janice
Chef Dennis Littley
absolutely. A hand mixer will work fine
Elisa
Would this recipe work in a bundt pan? I don’t have 9″ rounds.
Chef Dennis Littley
Yes it will; you’ll have to increase the baking time to 45-60 minutes. You’ll also have too much frosting, so you may want to cut that down by one-third.
Sara
This cake is worthy of celebrating on its own! It was so delicious! Next time I’ll serve this with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream on the top!