Last updated on August 14th, 2023
If you’ve never tasted Sweet Cream Cake, please take note: It’s delicious! I found the recipe in the “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook” that was originally published in 1950. The cake is blessed with a light, fluffy crumb and an irresistible vanilla perfume. It’s an easy cake to make even for first-time bakers. You can mix the batter by hand (as most folks did in the early 1950s) or by machine as you please. Here’s the video how-to and printable recipe:
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I can tell you that from a historical perspective, Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook is a fun read. When the book was published in 1950, electric blenders and heavy duty stand mixers were not common in most American kitchens. Consequently, when the book instructs the cook to “beat eggs with rotary beater until thick,” the rotary beater is the type that was cranked by hand. Just imagine the brutal work-out our baking ancestors endured in the kitchen.
How to Sift Flour for Sweet Cream Cake
As noted in the video above and in the printable recipe below, Sweet Cream Cake requires 2 1/4 cups of sifted flour. This means that you must sift the flour before you measure it. I sifted my flour onto a piece of wax paper (see photo above) and then spooned it into the appropriate measuring cups. (Prior to recent times, sifted flour was la norme for most baked goods.)
How to Freeze Sweet Cream Cake
Sweet Cream Cake freezes perfectly well. Just follow these simple instructions:
- After the cake has completely cooled, cut it into squares.
- Eat 5 of the aforementioned squares all by your lonesome.
- Pop the remaining squares into an air-tight bag or tub, and freeze them for up to 3 months.
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Here’s the printable:
Sweet Cream Cake
Equipment
- A greased and floured 12x8.5 or 9x13 baking dish
Ingredients
For the batter:
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 2 1/4 cups SIFTED all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/3 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Optional for topping the cake:
- A mixture of cinnamon and sugar
Instructions
- Center the oven rack; preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat the eggs in a large bowl until very thick -- 5 minutes by hand, or 2 minutes by machine. Gradually beat in the sugar.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt. Tip the cream and vanilla into a small bowl or glass measure.
- In 3 alternating additions, gradually stir 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the cream mixture into the beaten eggs. Stir only until the flour disappears into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish, and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in the preheated for 40-45 minutes. If using the cinnamon/sugar topping, sprinkle it on 3 minutes before removing the cake from the oven. Let the cake cool to room temperature before serving.
mlaiuppa says
Oh, yeah. This is going in the recipe file. I especially appreciate the directions to eat five pieces before freezing.
Jake says
Have that same cookbook and it is a GEM !
Was a gift when I bought the house as it was printed in the same year the house was built.
Many times I’ll be wanting to make an ahem ‘classic’ recipe, and go there first.
Nancy Zinno says
Sounds great and I want to make it but just smelled my cream and it had soured. I’m thinking of using it and adding a teaspoon of baking soda and cutting back on the baking powder…what do you think?
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi mlaiuppa – If you make this cake, let me know how it turns out for you!
Hi Jake – So glad you own this book! And what a brilliant house-warming gift — a cookbook that was published the same year the house was built. Love it!
Hi Nancy – I’d splurge on a fresh carton of cream!
Dianne Sofia says
I’m going to bake this cake for my friend’s birthday this coming week. Thanks so much, Kevin. I love your Email info on gardening and cooking. Have been watching for some time now. 🙂 I have the Betty Crocker cookbook published in 1968 with the red plaid cover. This particular cake you made on the video I watched today is not included in the ’68 edition. 🙁 So I will print off your recipe. Thanks!
Addie says
Hi, Kevin – do you think this would work with almond flour? I’m trying to stick to low carb but his cake looks lovely.
Cheers,
Addie
Molly says
:+) I also have that book, got it in the sixties when I was first married. At that time, it was the only one I had. Love your blog, so many great ideas. Please do not stop. Thanks for all your great ideas and love pics of your beautiful home and gardens.
Chris says
I have the 1961 version (Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cookbook), and it still has the Sweet Cream Cake recipe. My mother-in-law gave the cookbook to my husband in the 70s before we were married. It’s turned out to be one of my most used cookbooks (and I have a whole bookcase full).
Carolyn Floyd says
I have that cookbook! It was my mother’s and I brought it home after she passed away. As a child I learned to cook using it. A few pages before this recipe is one called Dark Devils Food Cake that I made on Sunday afternoons. The page is so spotted that some of the other recipes are hard to read. I guess I was a messy little cook. It calls for 1/3 tsp of baking powder but we didn’t have a 1/3 measuring spoon so I used 1/2 and it worked fine. Once I made it for my brothers birthday and forgot the sugar. Luckily I tasted the batter just before I put it in the oven so I dumped it back in the mixing bowl, added the sugar, and mixed it some more. Turned out fine. So many memories in that book including handwritten recipes and clippings from mother.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Carolyn – I love your Devil’s Food Cake story! After reading your comment, I had to check the recipe. Sure enough, 1/3 teaspoon baking powder. Odd measurement!
Bruni Haydl says
Nancy Zinno,
As Kevin suggested, buy a new carton of cream. Homogenized cream does not sour, it spoils. Now if you had unhomogenized cream straight from the farm sweet cream would not spoil but turn into real sour cream.
Esther says
Hi!
Love your site, recipes and all of your gardening and homecare tips and tours.
I gathered all ingredients for this cake. Carefully measured out everything before hand. Then started your video. Beat the eggs by hand. As you started to explain about sifting the “2 1/4” cups of flour I panicked! Eek!
Your ingredients list says “2 1/3” cups of flour!
Which measurement is correct?
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Esther – Hope I’m catching you in time! Correct flour measurement is 2 1/3 cups. If you used 2 1/4 cups (as I apparently did in the video), you needn’t worry. This cake is very forgiving!
Esther says
Hello Kevin,
Thank you for the quick response!
I did use the 2 1/3 cups of flour.
This cake is MARVELOUS!
When I first read the recipe I thought, “Oh my! This would make an amazing strawberry shortcake!” And it does!
We had a small slice plain, it’s hard to call this cake “plain”, and it is delicious all on its own. Adding strawberries and whipped cream may be “gilding the lily” but it is divine!
Thank you for this and so many other wonderful recipes!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Esther – I’m so happy the cake worked out for you. And yes to strawberries and whipped cream!
Jeanette Cobb (Instagram southernstylegardener) says
Hi Kevin,
I have just bought Pastry Flour for the first time. Any hints on using it differently than White Lily, my standby brand. Look forward to trying this other kind in your perfect pie crust recipe.
Shirley says
I just made this and it is a keeper..everyone raved about it…thanks for the recipe.
Now I would like to ask you a personal question..Kevin you skin is always glowing, what a beautiful complexion you have…please, what is your secret, what do you use..I am asking this for myself and 8 other women..
Maraya says
There are many recipes for this on the Inet, each with different amounts/ratios of everything! I’m going to make yours (Betty Crocker’s). I’m thinking about drizzling with a lemon or orange zest infused glaze, when cooled, instead of the cinnamon sugar, per another recipe I saw.
FYI: The rare times I sift flour, I use a fine strainer over waxed paper. I put my measuring cup(s) on the paper, under the strainer, so at least part of my measure is already filled and I just have to level off.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Maraya – Love your glaze ideas. Let me know how the cake works out for you!
Linda Klassen says
My mother had a cream cake recipe that I never copied. It was the bestest ever. She mixed it up 2 or 3 times a week and we ate it before it could cool. Memories of friends a table full of fresh baked goods, homemade pickles and cream cake caused me to begin a long search for that recipe. This is it! The only thing missing is my Mom, the farm fresh cream and range fed chicken eggs. My long search is over. I will be mixing it up for my grandchildren and telling them the many wonderful stories about Mom and Dad.
Thank you for the recipe!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Linda – I’m so glad you found this recipe. Hope you and your grandchildren enjoy the cake — and the memories.
Rosemary S says
What a beautiful cake to eat on its own …. which I did …. and to pair with fruit, which I also did. I poached some sliced pears then sprinkled with sugar and brûléed them and laid them on top of the serving of cake. The cinnamon sugar from the cake was a great compliment to the pears.
This was so easy to make and I was very surprised at the difference in the volume of sifted flour vs. flour measured from the container. I was curious so I measured the flour from the canister and put in a bowl. Then I sifted it into another bowl and measured it by spoon into the measuring cup. There was a good bit of sifted flour left over. I guess that is why this cake is so light and has such a beautiful soft texture.
I’m already thinking about the next one I will make ….. and the one after that and all those to follow. Each will be unique.
Thanks for another great recipe Kevin.
Ginny says
Hey Kevin! I have tried many of your recipes and they were so delicious! Can’t wait to try this Cream Cake for my next meal dessert. If you could please, give the measurements you used for the cinnamon sugar topping, and I thank you.
Mary Laiuppa says
Just watched the video. The next time you make it, try adding some nutmeg to the batter.
Frances says
Hi Kevin,
I would like to use this recipes for cupcakes. Do you think it will work well, or might the cake crumble once the cupcake liner is removed.
I just found your channel about a week ago and I am enjoying the videos so much. I have to limit myself to no more than three a day! Thank you