White chocolate cake – A delicious, soft sponge cake packed full of white chocolate chips and topped with smooth white chocolate buttercream.
One question I’m asked quite regularly is how to tweak my chocolate cake recipe to make a white chocolate cake.
To take out the guesswork, I decided to get into the kitchen and start testing.
It turned out that simply switching the milk chocolate in the chocolate cake for white wasn’t going to cut it. When I tested it I ended up with a cake that lacked flavour, sank in the middle and had an odd texture – definitely not something I’d be happy to share with you all.
In order to create a cake that’s packed full of white chocolate flavour and has the delicious soft sponge you all seem to love I had to start from scratch and design something completely new.
I know some of you like to understand why I do different things in different cakes – it always surprises me how carefully some of you go through my recipes spotting subtle differences and asking about them. If you like that detail then keep reading.
Otherwise you skip to the frequently asked questions and answers to help you make the most of out the recipe or you can jump straight to the recipe.
The story of this cake
One of the biggest challenges I had with this cake was filling it with white chocolate flavour. White chocolate is much more subtle that its darker cousins so you need more of it. Also, rather than the chocolate being melted or grated into the cake mixture (as I do with my regular chocolate cake) it needs to be in bigger chucks.
The addition of white chocolate chunks/chips presents a new challenge – creating a sponge that’s light and fluffy, but at the same time having enough structure to hold the chocolate chips. Many websites recommend tossing the chips in a little flour prior to adding them to the cake mixture. That is definitely useful (and something I recommend in this recipe), but alone is not enough to keep them suspended in the cake if they really want to sink to the bottom.
This led me to a complete redesign of my sponge and has resulted in a whole new cake that has the same great texture and flavour as all of my other sponge recipes, but is also capable of holding those white chocolate chips right where they should be.
So, how does this sponge recipe differ from my usual cake recipes?
More flour
To suspend the chocolate chips in the cake it needs more structure and a great way to add structure is to increase the amount of flour.
Switching from using the all-in-one method to the creaming method
However, increasing the amount of flour can lead to a cake that’s dense and heavy. To counter this, I switched from my usual all-in-one method (where I chuck everything in one bowl at the same time and mix), to the creaming method.
Using the creaming method, the butter (or margarine) and sugar are beaten together and then the eggs are slowly added. This method adds more air into the cake mixture, helping to give the sponge a good rise and make it light and fluffy.
Increasing the cooking temperature and reducing the cooking time
Increasing the cooking temperature means that the cake sets more quickly giving the chocolate chips less time to wander down through the cake. To ensure the cake doesn’t dry out, the cooking time is shorter than you will see for many of my other recipes for cakes of the same size.
Sprinkling the chocolate chips in a little flour
This is a well known method for helping bits in cake to stay put. As a bonus, to help this work even better, I pop the chips into the microwave for 10 seconds before tossing them in the flour. This 10 second burst is enough to make the outside of the chips a little tacky (but still solid, defined lumps) which helps the flour to stick.
Sprinkling some of the chocolate chips on top of the cake mixture
When I make this cake I mix most of the chocolate chips into the cake mixture. However, I like to keep back roughly one third to sprinkle on top of the cake before it bakes. This helps to give the most even distribution of chocolate chips in the sponge. You will find that this gives the top of your cake a rather uneven finish (as the cake rises around the chips), but once you’ve added your buttercream you won’t notice.
If you’d rather have a smoother finish to your cake, you can mix all of the chocolate chips into the cake mixture, but be warned, you’re likely to end up with a slightly less even distribution.
Switching some of the eggs for yogurt
For a 20cm sponge I’d usually use four eggs. However, in this recipe I’ve switched out some of the eggs for natural yogurt. When I tested this recipe using just eggs the chocolate chips fell through the cake and ended up in a (rather delicious) layer at the bottom. However, switching out half the eggs for yogurt helps to suspend them in the cake.
I’ve tried and tried to figure out why this works but I’m yet to discover the secret. I had originally thought it was down to the relatively density of eggs and yogurt, but they’re almost identical so it’s not that. Any genius suggestions in the comments would be most welcome as I love to really understand what’s happening when I bake.
Adding a little bicarbonate of soda
As I’m using yogurt in this cake, which is slightly acidic, I’ve added a little bicarbonate of soda to give the cake an extra lift.
WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE FAQS
If it’s your first time making this recipe or you have a question then please take a moment to have a read through my white chocolate cake FAQs for lots of extra tips, suggested ingredient substitutions (if you need to make any) and allergen information.
- How long does this cake last for and how should it be stored?
- Can this recipe be used to make cupcakes?
- Can this cake be covered in fondant to make a birthday/celebration cake?
- What is the cake decorated with?
- Can I use fat-free natural yogurt?
- I don’t have a microwave, can I still make this cake?
- Can I substitute the white chocolate chips for dark or milk?
- What is this cake free from? Who is it suitable for?
If there’s something you’d like to know that I’ve not answered here then please let me know in the comments.
How long does this cake last for and how should it be stored?
This cake will last for up to a week stored in an airtight container.
❄️ Suitable for freezing
This cake is also suitable for freezing, either just the sponges or the buttercreamed cake (minus any sprinkles).
To freeze just the sponges, I recommend wrapping them in clingfilm to protect them and then freezing.
To freeze the finished cake, either:
- Pop it into a freezer-safe airtight container or
- Put it into the freezer uncovered for a couple of hours (until the buttercream is firm) and then wrap the cake in clingfilm.
If you take the second approach, I’d recommend removing the clingfilm before the cake has defrosted as that’ll help to keep your buttercream neat.
I would recommend eating this cake when it’s freshly made rather than freezing it. It freezes well, but we found the chocolate chips were a bit firmer after it had been defrosted and preferred the texture before freezing.
Can this recipe be used to make cupcakes?
Yes.
The mixture is enough to make 16 cupcakes. As they’re smaller they’ll only need to be baked for approximately 18 minutes rather than the 25 recommended in the recipe.
Can this cake be covered in fondant to make a birthday/celebration cake?
Yes.
The sponge is firm enough to support a layer of fondant.
What is the cake decorated with?
How you choose to decorate your finished cake is up to you, but I’ve used a sprinkling of freeze-dried raspberries (to add a bit of colour) and some white chocolate shavings.
Can I use fat-free natural yogurt?
I wouldn’t recommend using fat-free yogurt as the fat content in the yogurt helps to ensure you get a moist, fluffy sponge. Using a fat-free version may leave you with a sponge that’s a little dry.
I don’t have a microwave, can I still make this cake?
Yes.
In the recipe I recommend popping the white chocolate chips into the microwave for 10 seconds before tossing them in flour and adding them to the cake mixture. The purpose of giving them a very brief blast in the microwave is the make the outsides ever so slightly tacky which helps the flour to stick. This in turn helps the chocolate chips to remain suspended in the cake.
The recipe will works perfectly well without this little blast in the microwave, however you may find the chocolate chips are a little more likely to sink during baking.
Can I substitute the white chocolate chips for dark or milk?
Yes.
I’ve designed this cake as a white chocolate cake, but any type of chocolate chips will work equally as well.
What is this cake free from? / Who is this cake suitable for?
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary, and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Tree-Nut Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Sulphite-Free
- Lupin-Free
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White Chocolate Cake
INGREDIENTS
For the white chocolate sponge
- 240 g self-raising flour - plus an extra ½ tsp of flour to mix with the chocolate chips
- 200 g margarine or butter - if you're using butter, make sure it's soft and at room temperature
- 200 g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 80 g full-fat natural (or greek) yogurt
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 200 g white chocolate chips - or finely chopped white chocolate
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
For the white chocolate buttercream
- 175 g butter - soft and at room temperature
- 175 g icing sugar
- 140 g white chocolate
- A little milk - if needed to get the buttercream to the right consistency
INSTRUCTIONS
Make the white chocolate sponges
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/160°C fan.
- Line two 20cm round sandwich tins with greaseproof paper or reusable baking liners.
- Microwave your white chocolate chips (200g) for 10 seconds – you want them to be tacky around the edges, not melted.Add ½ tsp of flour to the white chocolate chips and toss the chocolate chips in the flour until they coated in it.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter/margarine (200g) and caster sugar (200g) until it's light in colour with a fluffy texture.
- In a separate bowl, mix together your eggs (2 large), natural yogurt (80g) and vanilla extract (¼ tsp) with a fork until just combined.Gradually add the egg and yogurt mixture into the butter and sugar. Beat in each addition well before adding more – don't panic if the mixture starts to look a little split (thats' down to the yogurt).
- Add the self-raising flour (240g) and bicarbonate of soda (½ tsp) and fold into the other ingredients.
- Finally add roughly ⅔ of the white chocolate chips and fold them into the cake mixture.
- Divide your cake mixture between the two prepared tins. Use the back of a spoon to spread the cake mixture evenly in the tins. Sprinkle the remining chocolate chips over the top of the cake mixture.
- Bake the cakes for approximately 25 minutes, until a skewer entered into the middle comes out clean.
- Once baked, leave the cakes to cool in their tins for about 10 minutes, before removing them from the tins and putting them on a wire rack to cool completely.
While your cakes are cooling, make the white chocolate buttercream
- Break the white chocolate (140g) and melt it over a bain marie (in a bowl over a pan of simmering water) or in short bursts in the microwave.Once the chocolate has melted, allow it to cool to room temperature (but make sure it's still runny).
- Once the chocolate has cooled, beat together the butter (175g) and icing sugar (175g) until combined.
- Gradually add the melted, cooled white chocolate, beating constantly to combine it with the butter and sugar.
- Check the consistency of your buttercream – it should be a soft, spreadable consistency, but not runny. If the buttercream is a little stiff, add some milk (no more that 1 tsp at a time) until you have the consistency you want.If the buttercream is a little too soft, pop it into the fridge for a short while to firm up a bit.
- Once your buttercream is ready, build your cake. Place one layer of sponge onto your serving dish. Add half of the buttercream and spread it across the sponge – I use a small palette knife. Repeat with the second sponge.Add your preferred decoration – I use freeze-dried raspberries and white chocolate shavings.Enjoy!
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Cynthia Caton says
Hi Charlotte,
I did make this recipe in to cupcakes at the weekend absolutely fantastic can highly recommend them. I managed to make and ice 20 from the recipe , half of them are in the freezer now to devour at a later date.
Would these work in a chocolate version using milk chocolate chips and substitute some of the flour for cocoa powder (how much do you think please)
Thanks in advance
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve not tried this cake as a chocolate cake so I cannot guarantee the results, but if I were to try it I’d switch 40g of flour for cocoa powder (this must be by weight rather than volume as cocoa powder is lighter than flour) and I’d add an additional 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder.
Cynthia Caton says
Hi Charlotte,
I would like to make this recipe into cupcakes now after making the cake (which was delicious ) how long would you recommend baking them for and would it be the same oven temperature as the cake?
Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve included a small section about adapting this recipe to make cupcakes in the main recipe post. You can find the information here:
https://charlotteslivelykitchen.com/white-chocolate-cake/#Q2
Jemma says
How would I adapt this for 3 x 6″ tins please?
Charlotte Oates says
I would simply split the ingredients for two 8″ cakes (as given in the recipe) into three 6″ tins. This is slightly more mixture than you’ll need to you may find they need a slightly longer cooking time, but it should work well.
Chioma Chinenye Ahumareze says
Good day,
Please why do you coat the chips in flour? Does this prevent them sinking to the bottom of the pan?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes. It helps suspend them in the cake so that they are relatively evenly distributed throughout the cake rather than sinking to the bottom.
Andrea Clewes says
Hi I have made this recipe and it was beautiful can you give me the measurements to make a 10” cake
Charlotte Oates says
I haven’t tested this cake in different tin sizes so I cannot 100% guarantee the results, but it should work OK.
The ingredients you need are:
– 360g self-raising flour
– 300g margarine or butter
– 300g caster sugar
– 3 large eggs
– 120g yogurt
– 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
– 300g white chocolate chips
– 3/8 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
– 260g butter
– 260g icing sugar
– 210g white chocolate
The oven temperature and cooking time should be the same as in the original recipe.
Cynthia Caton says
Once again a fantastic cake Charlotte thanks for the recipe, made it today I sandwiched it with raspberry jam aswel as the buttercream it was delicious
Chris says
I just made this for my mums 65th birthday and it was fantastic! I changed it slightly by adding strawberry jam and a strawberry flour on top. I also had enough of the white choc butter cream (which was so good) to coat all the outside with some white choc shards. So sickly but was so good!
Andrea Clewes says
Hi
Would you be able to add fresh raspberries in this recipe and how much
Charlotte Oates says
You should be able to, but it’s not something I’ve tested. I’d opt for about 150g of raspberries if I were to give it a try.
Katherine Evans says
Can you melt the chocolate chips and add to the mixture ? Thank you
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately not. The fat content in the white chocolate changes the consistency of the mixture and it doesn’t work.
Lisa says
I love it ❤️
Pamela Chowdhury says
Delicious – made it for Valentines day and it was perfect with fresh raspberries
Alison Black says
Tastes delicious, one of my sponges was falling apart slightly, why do you think this was?
Charlotte Oates says
My guess would be that it was slightly over-baked, or that it was removed from the tin while it was still a bit too warm.
Ellen says
Is it salted or unsalted butter?
Charlotte Oates says
I use unsalted
Sonja says
Great recipe! At least, a great starting point 🙂 I didn’t follow it exactly because I was looking for a cake version of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Instead of 240g flour, I used 200g flour and 80g ground macadamia nuts. I also added nore vanilla extract because I add a lot to the cookies I make. I also divided the eggs and added the yoghurt only to the yolks and vanilla, and made a hard “snow” out of the egg whites to add volume since I added heavy nuts. Oh, I also added a pinch of salt to the flour/macadamia mixture. I made the butter mixture as written, though I admit I used light brown granulated sugar for 50g of the sugar, the rest was caster. Then, I mixed in the yoghurt mixture (yoghurt can be used as a stabilizer for whipped cream, too I believe, so maybe that’s the direction to go to figure out why it works better than eggs!), then I put the egg whites, flour mixture, and most if the chocolate chips on top and carefully folded it in using a large spoon. As stated, I added the rest of the chocolate chips on top. It worked great! It rose fabulously and tastes just like white chocolate macadamia nut cookies! This is probably my problem, because of the tweaking, but the first round I took out of the baking pan broke a bit. I was more careful for the next one, but I also just buttered and floured the pans instead of using baking paper. Still works great! Thank yiu for sharing this lovely recipe and thank you for adding how to make self rising flour yourself. 🙂
Laura Stokes says
This looks delicious! I wanted to add some raspberry in some form. I was thinking either freeze dried raspberries mixed in or raspberry jam to sandwich them. What do you think would work?
Charlotte Oates says
Either of these would work well so go with whichever you prefer the flavour of (or both!).
Jen says
Hi I can’t get chocolate chips but can get chocolate chunks is this ok to use? My daughters did your lemon cake recipe for my 60th (their first time ever making a bday cake) and it was one of the best sponges I have had and I make a lot of cakes!
Charlotte Oates says
Chocolate chunks tend to be a little bigger so will be more prone to sink. I try roughly chopping them a little before adding them to the cake mixture.
Sophie says
This recipe was delicious as cupcakes! My husband is a huge fan! Can I ask why you use chocolate chips, rather than grated, like your milk chocolate cupcakes? Would it affect the sponge if it was grated?
Charlotte Oates says
The reason I use chocolate chips in this cake is becuase white chocolate has a much more subtle flavour than milk or dark so it needs bigger pieces to really get a hit of flavour as you eat the cake. If you grate it, the flavour can get lost.
Also, as while chocolate is a lot softer than the others it’s almost impossible to grate without getting in a big mess.
Debbie howe says
Im thinking of doing this for the bottom tier of a wedding cake. Will fondant be ok to go over it
Charlotte Oates says
Yes. This is sturdy enough for a layer of fondant.
Sophie says
This looks amazing, can’t wait to try it! I’d like to do it in 6” tins and 4 layers – shall I use the amounts above over 4 tins or should I increase/decrease the amounts? Would it even work as a 4 layer cake do you think?
Charlotte Oates says
You could split this between 4×6″ tins. However, the cakes will be a little thinner and will bake more quickly. It should work fine as a 4-layer cake as it’s quite a sturdy sponge.
Debbie Howe says
Hi will this be ok for a 2 tiered cake. How far in advance can I make it
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve not tested it as a 2-tier cake, but I would expect it to work (It has a similar consistency to my other sponges which all work as tiers). The cake should last for up to a week after baking if it’s stored in an airtight container.
Natalie Barnes says
Hello,
I just wanted to ask advice. If I was making this cake in 16cm diameter round can tin. What quantity of ingredients would you recommend and cooking time?
Thank you
Charlotte Oates says
I haven’t tested this cake in different tin sizes so I cannot comment on how well it would work. However, if I were to try it I would use:
155g self-raising flour
130g margarine/butter
1 1/4 large eggs (I’d crack 2 eggs, lightly beat them to mix the white and yolk together, and weigh out 75g).
50g yogurt
1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
130g white chocolate chips
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
For the buttercream
110g butter
110g icing sugar
90g white chocolate
You haven’t mentioned if you’re planning on using sandwich tins or one deep tin. I would recommend sticking with sandwich tins as I’m not sure how well the cake would rise in a deeper tin and I’m also not sure how well distributed the white chocolate chips would remain in the cake (you may well find the predominantly sink to the bottom half). If you do decide to try it in a deep tin then I’d recommend increasing the cooking time to c. 45 minutes before checking it.