High Altitude White Velvet Cake

Velvety, soft and fluffy white cake, flavored with real vanilla bean, frosted with silky vanilla buttercream.

All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.

4.99 from 55 votes

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings16

Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray, and line the pans with circles of parchment paper.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla bean on medium speed (#6 on a Kitchen Aid stand mixer) for 10 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.
Beat in the egg whites, one at a time, beating each for 10 seconds before adding the next. Scrape the bowl down and beat for 10 more seconds.
In a separate bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt.
With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour. Use a spatula to scrape the bowl well and incorporate any stray bits of flour.
Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
Set the pans on a wire rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt and mix until combined.
Add the vanilla and milk, increase the speed to medium high and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy.
Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Fill, stack and frost the cake with the buttercream.

Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier for up to 3 days.
If you don't have three 8-inch pans, you can use two 9-inch pans instead. This is too much cake batter to only use two 8-inch pans.
You can also divide the batter between six 6-inch round cake pans, to make two smaller layer cakes.
Add 1 tsp almond extract to the cake batter and the buttercream for a classic "wedding cake" flavor.

Sea Level Ingredient Adjustments (tested by a baker in Ohio):

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
6 egg whites, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups cake flour (if using all-purpose, remove 6 T of flour; add 6 T of cornstarch)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cake Ingredients by Weight:

Keyword Cake, High Altitude, White Velvet