Name: Make-Ahead Yellow Cake Mix
Total time: 2 h
Ingredients: 2 cups (14 ounces/397 grams) granulated sugar; 1 1/2 cups (7½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour; 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces/170 grams) cake flour; 1/2 cup (1½ ounces/43 grams) nonfat dry milk powder; 1 tablespoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon salt; 16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Why This Recipe Works

For our Make-Ahead Yellow Cake Mix, we found the tender crumb of cake flour mimicked that of box-mix cake, but substituting half with all-purpose flour provided a sturdier structure. Because we didn’t cream our butter or beat in the eggs individually, we needed to add extra baking soda to achieve the same rise as a box mix cake. Cutting butter into our cake mix and then storing it in the freezer allowed us to eliminate an extra step at the end.

Taking the mix directly from the freezer prevented the fat and liquid from emulsifying but left us with a greasy finished cake. To help the liquid and fat to emulsify, we used room temperature eggs and warm water when mixing the cake. To eliminate another ingredient from the final step, we added the vanilla extract to the dry ingredients before placing the mix in the freezer. Cold temperatures can dull flavors, so we increased the amount of vanilla to compensate.

Before You Begin

You can make a second batch of mix without cleaning out your food processor, which will give you the makings for two cakes at the ready in your freezer.

Instructions

Process sugar, flours, milk powder, baking powder, and salt in food processor for 15 seconds to combine. Add butter and vanilla and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Freeze in zipper-lock bag for up to 2 months.

TO MAKE TWO 9-INCH LAYERS

PREPARE PANS Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans (see step by step below for an array of other cake pan options).

MAKE CAKE With electric mixer on medium speed, beat prepared cake mix, 1 1/4 cups warm water (about 110 degrees), and 2 large room-temperature eggs until mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape batter into prepared cake pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack. Cool completely, at least 1 hour.