Daffodil Cake

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This daffodil cake is a beautiful yellow and white cake that is both fluffy and tart. With a light lemon glaze and a decadent texture, this is a great cake to make for any occasion.

Why not learn How to Make a Lemon Icing Glaze for this recipe? Or maybe make a Classic Chiffon Cake instead?

Daffodil Cake

Daffodils have long been the ultimate sign of an approaching springtime. Light, airy and bright yellow, this cake, just like daffodils, is the perfect thing to enjoy just as the season is warming up.

Of course, there is nothing stopping you from just making this cake whenever you want!

The yellow color comes from a combination of extracts and egg yolks, meaning that you can make this cake in the dead of winter and trick your brain into thinking you are in warmer months.

So long as you make this cake with a delicious homemade lemon glaze, just enjoy it whenever and however you want!   

Daffodil Cake Ingredients

Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.

• Cake flour

• Sugar

• Egg whites

• Cream of tartar

• Salt

• Sugar

• Egg yolks

• Vanilla extract

• Almond extract

• Lemon glaze

How To Make Daffodil Cake

• Get a tube pan or an angel food cake pan, as well as a funnel

• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and ¾ cup and 2 tablespoons of the sugar and set aside

• In a small mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks on high until it turns very thick and light yellow color

• In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed, adding the cream of tartar and salt until it is just about foamy

• Turn the mixer to high speed, beat the ¾ cup of sugar, adding it 2 tablespoons at a time until the meringue successfully holds still peaks

• Gently fold the vanilla and almond extract into the whipped egg whites

• Sprinkle the flour/sugar mixture, ¼ cup at a time, over the beaten egg whites folding in gently until the mixture disappears and is combined

• Pour half of the egg white mixture into a medium bowl

• Take your beaten egg yolks and add them to one of the bowls with the egg whites

• Spoon the yellow and white batters into the ungreased nonstick tube pan alternately so as to create a marbled effect

• Gently cut through the batter if you want to swirl the colors

• Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 40 minutes at 375 Fahrenheit, or until the top of the cake springs back when touched

• Make sure not to open the oven, or the cake will collapse!

• When you remove the cake from the oven, invert the cake in the pan onto the funnel, and let it hang until the cake is completely cool

• Once the cake is cool, run a sharp knife around the outside of the cake and release it from the pan

• Glaze the cake with the lemon glaze and serve 

How To Ensure You Get A Really Yellow Color In Your Cake

The daffodil cake is not only designed to be reminiscent of springtime with its gentle, sweet flavors but it is also meant to be bright yellow and look like a daffodil as well.

The yellow coloring in the original recipe comes from using a large number of egg yolks, mixed separately from the egg whites, to allow for its golden yellow color to permeate the batter.

One thing you can do to really reinforce that yellow coloring is to try and get farm-fresh, high-quality eggs rather than regular supermarket eggs.

Farm eggs will likely be fed a higher quality diet and will also receive a good amount of corn as supplemental feeding. This corn feed, as well as the generally healthier diets that free-range chickens have, will lead to more yellow coloring.

The other thing you can do to really get a bright yellow color is to use a little bit of yellow food dye.

Though some might call it cheating, just a couple of drops of yellow die added to the batter can really help emphasize the beautiful coloring of this cake.

How To Flavor Different Parts Of Your Cake

The unique quality of the daffodil cake is that it is basically a combination of a sponge cake and an angel cake blended together. This allows you to do some interesting things with the texture and flavor of the cake, as it is effectively a layer cake with different kinds of cake in each layer.

For example, instead of doing the advised almond extract, you could flavor one or both of the cakes with all manner of different flavorings!

An orange extract, or even a few dashes of orange bitters from your bar, could turn this cake into more of a summertime, citrus-forward cake. You could also try using some coffee extract or even throw in a whole double shot of espresso!

Feel free to play around with the actual flavorings of this recipe and see what works well for you! So long as you keep the layers distinct, then you could have all kinds of different flavor combinations!

Looking for more delicious Cake recipes? Try these out:

• Jello Poke Cake

• Classic Banana Cake

• Sweet Potato Cheesecake

Happy Cooking

Love,

Karlynn

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