White Almond Sour Cream Wedding Cake Recipe

I made my daughter's wedding cake using this recipe. It turned out fantastic. The texture is just perfect for a wedding cake -- not too fluffy so it breaks from the weight, but also not overly dense. The flavor, texture and moistness were just right. I made two batches of the batter for a three-tiered wedding cake using 14", 10" and 6" pans that were 3-inches deep. I had enough extra batter for a 9" layer (not a deep pan). This recipe was originally created by Rebecca Sutterby.

by Donna M.

SERVES 40 -50

2 (18	ounce) boxes white cake mix (Betty Crocker or Pillsbury)
2	cups all-purpose flour
2	cups granulated sugar
1 1/2	teaspoons salt
2 2/3	cups water
1/4	cup vegetable oil
2	teaspoons real vanilla
2	teaspoons almond extract
2	cups sour cream
8	large egg whites

1. Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir together with a wire whisk.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
3. Pour into greased and floured cake pans, filling each pan a little over half full.
4. Lightly tap cake pans on counter to bring air bubbles to top.
5. Bake in preheated 325° F oven until cake tests done.
6. Baking time varies according to the size and depth of pans being used.
7. I used Wilton's Bake Even Strips on my cake pans to ensure a level-topped cake which required absolutely no trimming-- I highly recommend these, or good quality professional baking pans.
8. In 2" deep pans, this recipe makes:
9. One 14" round and one 6" round
10. or One 16" round
11. or One 12" round and one 10" round
12. or One 12 X 18" sheet cake
13. or One 12" round and one 8" round and one 6" round
14. or Two 9" squares.
15. or 5 dozen cupcakes.
16. Half the recipe makes:
17. Two 7" rounds
18. or Two 6" rounds and 6 cupcakes.
19. For chocolate cake: sub choc. cake mix for white... instead of egg whites do 6 whole eggs... sub 2/3 of the flour for cocoa powder and sub all of the water for coffee, omit almond extract
20. For liqueur flavors: substitute alcohol (such as champagne or Kahlua) for about 1 cup of the water in the recipe.
21. For berry flavors: use frozen berries, thaw reserving the juice. Substitute the berry juice for part of the water in the recipe, and stir the berries in at the end.
22. For lemon cake: substitute lemon juice for about 1 cup of the water in the recipe, use 6 whole eggs instead of the whites, stir in 1 Tblsp lemon zest, and use 1 tsp of a good lemon extract in place of the almond.
23. For white chocolate: melt 8oz white baking chocolate & cool slightly. use 6 whole eggs in the recipe instead of the whites, temper the chocolate by stirring in a small amount of the batter, then add the white chocolate to the entire batter and stir well. Doesn't bake up quite as high as the original, so add a pinch more batter to the pans.

Reviews:
All I can say is I'm sooooo glad I found this recipe!!! It's one of the best cakes I've ever had/made. I made it for my dh's birthday last Saturday and it was such a great texture...not that fluffy, spongy airy cakes you get from a straight box mix. I look forward to trying many other flavors with this method!!! I halved the recipe and made it in a 9 x 13 glass dish. Baked it at the 325 for about 40 minutes. Thanks for posting this!! ~ Update ~ I've made this cake about 5 times since my original review.
This is now my stadard cake recipe. It can easily be divided by 1/2 to make a 13X9 (w/ a little extra batter) or three 8 0r 9 inch layers.
I made up the whole batch and got 63 cupcakes for Easter, baking them for 19 minutes. The texture and the flavour is incredible !!
I halved the recipe and made two 8" rounds which came out perfectly. I frosted with a almond buttercreme and spread rasberry jam between the layers.
I used a buttercream frosting and halved the recipe for a 13x9 pan. Baked for about 36 minutes.

For Chocolate Filling:
melt 2 cups chocolate chips with a can of sweetened condensed milk. Stir until smooth and then let cool until fudge consistency.