A fluffy, buttery, classic sponge cake which lends itself to a range of different recipes. All mixed in one bowl in less than a minute, this recipe can be used for loaf cakes, slices, sandwich cakes and also streusel cakes, to name just a few. I call it ‘Sour Cream Cake’ to differentiate from my other core recipe cakes and also because it has a generous quantity of sour cream (or yoghurt) in the cake batter. This guarantees a moist and soft crumb each and every bake.

Recipes on this site using this cake recipe as a base:

Photograph of Lamingtons — Mocha Drizzle Cake

Photograph of Lemon and Rosemary Drizzle Cake — Mocha Drizzle Cake

How to make Sour Cream Cake – Core Recipe

Collect all your ingredients together:

unsalted butter, at room temperature
caster sugar
eggs
plain/all-purpose flour
cornflour
baking powder
bicarbonate of soda
vanilla extract
fine salt
sour cream or natural yoghurt

Now make this wonderful cake:

It is important that the butter is at room temperature and soft enough to beat. If it is a little hard, beat it with a whisk before adding the other ingredients. If it is already quite soft, you do not need to do this.
Measure all the remaining ingredients into the mixing bowl with the butter. I place my mixing bowl on top my scales and weigh everything in directly.
Use an electric whisk to beat until combined. This should take less than a minute. All done.
Tip into your lined baking tin and level the surface.
Bake in a preheated oven until cooked.
- 20cm/8in square tin – around 40 minutes
- 900g/2lb loaf tin – around 50 – 60 minutes
- deep 20cm/8in round tin – 50 – 60 minutes
- 2 x 20cm/8in round tins – 35 – 30 minutes
It is cooked when:
- the centre feels springy when lightly touched with your finger and no imprint remains
- a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean
- the cake is beginning to come away from the sides of the tin/dish.
Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

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Sour Cream Cake – Core Recipe

Course Cake, Dessert

Keyword cake, sour cream, sponge cake

Author Susan

Ingredients

130g unsalted butter, at room temperature
130g caster sugar
2 eggs
160g plain/all-purpose flour
20g cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of/baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
¼ teaspoon fine salt
100g sour cream (or natural yoghurt)

Instructions

Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 (fan 160°C) and grease and line your selected cake tin.
Make the cake: it is important that the butter is at room temperature and soft enough to beat. If it is a little hard, beat it with a whisk before adding the other ingredients. If it is already quite soft, you do not need to do this.
Measure the remaining ingredients into the mixing bowl with the butter. I place my mixing bowl on top my scales and weigh everything in directly.
Use an electric whisk to beat until combined. This should take less than a minute. All done.
Tip into your lined baking tin(s) and level the surface.
Bake in a preheated oven until cooked.
– 20cm/8in square tin – around 40 – 50 minutes
– 900g/2lb loaf tin – around 45 – 50 minutes
– 450g/1lb loaf tin – around 35 – 40 minutes
– deep 20cm/8in round tin – around 50 – 60 minutes
– 2 x 20cm/8in round tins – around 25 – 35 minutes
It is cooked when:
– the centre feels springy when lightly touched with your finger and no imprint remains
– a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean
– the cake is beginning to come away from the sides of the tin/dish.
Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.