Cottage Food Recipes – The Diane Collective

Naturally Pink Strawberry Cake with Yogurt Whipped Cream Frosting

Diane — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 01:08:25 +0000

My mom wanted a strawberry cake for her birthday and a strawberry cake she got.

This was so fresh and bursting with strawberry flavor! I blended fresh strawberries and cooked it on the stove to remove the water — that way I’m left with a concentrated strawberry flavor.

Usually real strawberry cake turns out gray and people add red food coloring (I found this natural red food coloring gel) but this one doesn’t require any

Super happy with how it turned out. There is leftover strawberry puree that I served it with. Soooo yummy!

The measurements for this recipe are a little bit wonky, but this is what I used. And you don’t have to be that exact — if you add 4 grams of white sugar instead of 4.10 grams… it’s not going to make a difference.

Naturally Pink Strawberry Cake Recipe

This recipe makes one 6″ round cake layer.

Reduced Strawberry Puree Recipe

Ingredients

197g Fresh or Frozen Strawberries
8g White Sugar

Method

In a blender, puree until smooth.
Transfer to a small pot and reduce until thickened.

Strawberry Cake Recipe

Ingredients

42g Sour Cream (room temp)
28g Neutral Oil
21g Egg Whites (room temp)
1.90 Salt
65.80g Cake Flour (sift)
9.45g Potato Starch (sift)
2.10g Baking Powder
0.40g Baking Soda
70g White Sugar
101.50g Reduced Strawberry Puree

Method

In a mixing bowl or stand mixer, combine the sour cream, neutral oil, egg whites, and salt. Mix until fully combined, then set aside.
In a separate bowl, sift together the cake flour, potato starch, baking powder, and baking soda.
Whisk the white sugar into the dry ingredients until evenly combined.
Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Add half of the reduced strawberry puree and mix in until just combined.
Alternate adding the remaining dry ingredients and puree, mixing gently after each addition until the batter is just combined. Do not over mix.
Transfer batter into an oiled and parchment lined 6″ round baking pan.
Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 14-19 minutes, or until set. (Mine took 19 minutes).
Allow to cool completely. Set aside.

Don’t have the baking pan I’m using?

Here is the same Naturally Pink Strawberry Cake Recipe using my Cake Pan Converter Spreadsheet.

Yogurt Whipped Cream Frosting Recipe

This recipe frosts one 6″ round cake.

Ingredients

109g Heavy Whipping Cream
44g Greek Yogurt
9g Powdered Sugar (sift)
2g Vanilla Extract
0.40g Salt

Method

Place mixing bowl (or stand mixer bowl) and whisk (or whisk attachment) in freezer for 5 minutes to chill.
In chilled bowl, whisk heavy whipping cream and greek yogurt together until slightly thickened.
Add in powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Continue whisking to soft peaks. Taste for adjustments.
Switch to a handheld whisk and whisk by hand to desired texture. If over-whipped and grainy, whisk in a splash of cream until texture softens up.

Frosting a different sized cake?

Here is the same Yogurt Whipped Cream Frosting using my Cake Pan Converter Spreadsheet.

Concluding the Naturally Pink Strawberry Cake Recipe

This naturally pink strawberry cake is such a winner! It tastes so fresh, like a real strawberry.

I hope you give it a try in whatever baking pan size you have.

WANT MORE CONVERTED RECIPES?

Check out the Recipe Library to see what other bakes you can make in over 25 baking pan sizes!

Chocolate Marshmallow Cake Bars (Hostess Cupcake-Inspired)

Diane — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 23:23:38 +0000

These chocolate marshmallow cake bars are one of the best up-sellers in my business — for good reason!

Hostess Cupcakes were one of my favorite snacks growing up. I’m pretty sure they were the first things I made homemade. While most recipes online will have cream cheese filling or chocolate ganache frosting, the recipe I am sharing with you is a cottage food version, meaning that refrigeration is not required.

If you’re a cottage food baker, these will be perfect for your product lineup.

Chocolate Marshmallow Cake Bar Recipe

This recipes makes 8 cake bars.

Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients

62.22g Neutral Oil
58.33g Eggs (room temp)
58.33g Sour Cream (room temp)
58.33g Milk (room temp)
3.69g Salt
85.07g All-Purpose Flour (sift)
37.33g Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder (sift)
12.15g Potato Starch (sift)
2.63g Baking Soda
2.10g Baking Powder
66.75g White Sugar
55.00g Brown Sugar
70.00g Hot Coffee

Method

In a mixing bowl or stand mixer, combine the neutral oil, eggs, sour cream, milk, molasses, and salt. Mix until fully combined, then set aside.
In a separate bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, Dutch cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.
Whisk the white sugar into the dry ingredients until evenly combined.
Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Add half of the hot water and mix gently until just combined.
Alternate adding the remaining dry ingredients and hot water, mixing gently after each addition until the batter is just combined. Do not over mix.
Portion 70 g of batter into each silicone mold cavity.
Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 17-20 minutes, or until set.
Allow to cool completely. Set aside.

Don’t have the baking pan I’m using?

Here is the same Chocolate Cake Recipe using my Cake Pan Converter Spreadsheet.

Chocolate Coating Recipe

Ingredients

485.00g Chocolate Candy Melts
24.00g Neutral Oil

Method

In a bowl, microwave in increments until melted. Do not scorch.
Set aside.

Assembly

Ingredients

8 Mini Chocolate Cake Loaves
170.00g Marshmallow Fluff
485.00g Chocolate Candy Melts
24.00g Neutral Oil

Method

Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Slice each cake loaf in half horizontally. Return bottom half to pan cavity. Set aside top halves.
Transfer marshmallow fluff to piping bag. Evenly pipe 10 grams inside the loaf pans on top of the chocolate cake. Evenly spread out as best as possible. Top with other half of cake.
Set aside in freezer for 10-20 minutes.
In a bowl, microwave chocolate candy melts and oil in increments to partially melt. Do not scorch. Stir to combine and fully melt.
Take a cake bar and dip the sides in melted chocolate mixture to seal marshmallow in. Set aside on prepared baking sheet. Repeat.
With a fork, flip the cake upside down to dip the top in chocolate. Flip over immediately. Let excess drip. Set aside to set. Repeat.

Conclusion on the Chocolate Marshmallow Cake Bars

If I were to make these again, I would take a knife and run two parallel lines down each chocolate cake loaf so I can squeeze in the marshmallow fluff and pour the chocolate coating inside the loaf pan. So much less mess!

At least in theory. I will be sure to update you guys on how that goes, so please be sure to follow me on YouTube or Instagram.

These are a best seller for a reason! Or rather my best up-seller because I offer these as a gift with purchase if you buy 3 chunky cookies. Whether you’re selling or offering them as an incentive to buy more, I know these will be an amazing snack for your customers

WANT MORE CONVERTED RECIPES?

Check out the Recipe Library to see what other bakes you can make in over 25 baking pan sizes!

Mini Maple Cinnamon Crunch Coffee Cake

Diane — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 02:48:57 +0000

Texture adds flavor! That’s why this mini maple cinnamon crunch coffee cake is so popular with my Cookie Cazimi customers.

This recipe is unique in that I took the elements of three separate recipes to make this coffee cake. They’re all by Scientifically Sweet and I have adjusted the amounts to perfectly fit my beloved mini silicone loaf molds.

If you don’t have these, don’t worry!

I share the Google Sheet I created for the Mini Maple Cinnamon Crunch Coffee Cake.

And while I always stress the importance of reading through the blog post and instructions of the original recipe developer, I also have written instructions for all the recipe spreadsheets in the Recipe Library, which are brief but will help cut the back-and-forth between all the resources.

Mini Maple Cinnamon Crunch Coffee Cake Recipe

This recipes makes 8 mini loaves.

Cinnamon Crunch Topping

Based on the cinnamon crunch topping of the Apple Cinnamon Crunch Coffee Cake by Scientifically Sweet.

Ingredients

62.50 g White Sugar
3.75 g AP Flour
1.25 g Cinnamon
17.50 g Butter

Method

In a small bowl, whisk the white sugar, AP flour, and cinnamon for 30 seconds, then set aside.
In a separate bowl, melt the butter in the microwave.
Pour the melted butter into the dry mixture and stir until everything is evenly combined.
Set aside until the baking pan(s) are filled and almost ready to go into the oven.
In a bowl, mix together white sugar, AP flour, and cinnamon until combined.
Set aside.

Cinnamon Layer

Based on the cinnamon swirl of the Caramel Chai Pumpkin Coffee Cake by Scientifically Sweet.

Ingredients

81.50 g Brown Sugar
3.00 g Dutch Cocoa
0.75 g Cinnamon

Method

In another bowl, mix brown sugar, Dutch cocoa, and cinnamon until combined.
Set aside.

Maple Coffee Cake

Based on the cake batter of the Maple Strawberry Coffee Cake by Scientifically Sweet.

Ingredients

129.00 g AP Flour
2.90 g Baking Powder
0.75 g Baking Soda
36.00 g Milk (room temp)
72.99 g Sour Cream (room temp)
60.00 g Eggs
3.00 g Vanilla Extract
50.5 g Butter (softened)
87.00 g Brown Sugar
36.00 g Maple Syrup
3.00 g Salt

Method

Place a silicone mini loaf pan on top of a half baking sheet. Set aside.
With a whisk and a mixing bowl or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add AP flour, baking powder, and baking soda through a fine sieve. Add white sugar to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Create a well in the center. Set aside.
In another mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until smooth and slightly fluffy like a paste. Mix in maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt until combined. Mix in the eggs until just combined. Mix in sour cream until batter is smooth and creamy.
If mixing by hand, switch to a silicone spatula — Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
Mix in milk until just combined.
Preheat the oven to 425°F and let the batter rest for 30 minutes. Proceed to next step while waiting.
In a liquid measuring cup, melt the butter from the Cinnamon Crunch Topping in the microwave. Mix the melted butter into the dry mixture of the Cinnamon Crunch Topping. Break it up into small crumbs. Set aside until batter has fully rested.
Add 30g of the batter into each cavity of a silicone mini loaf pan.
Sprinkle 10g of the Cinnamon Layer on top of the batter.
Add another 30g of batter on top of the filling.
Sprinkle 10g of the Cinnamon Crunch Topping evenly.
Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes.
Lower the oven temperature and continue baking at 350°F for 15-18 more minutes.

Final Verdict

This was one of the best bakes I have ever made! The cinnamon crunch topping is definitely the star.

What I love about the cinnamon layer is that there’s no butter or flour. So, the sugar and cinnamon really shine! The dutch cocoa simply adds color. I know a lot of recipes call for using the topping for the cinnamon layer, but butter and flour is what makes the crunch, which you don’t get when it’s baked in between the middle of two cakes, so I personally find it’s worth making two separate components to this recipe, but that’s just me.

The coffee cake, to be honest, didn’t really give maple. Cinnamon is just such a dominant flavor, so it’s completely drowned out.

Next time, I want to try a classic sour cream coffee cake, so the tanginess can add something to all that cinnamon. If not, then at least it’ll be a clean palate for the cinnamon.

WANT MORE CONVERTED RECIPES?

Check out the Recipe Library to see what other bakes you can make in over 25 baking pan sizes!

Mini Lemon Loaf with a Lemon Glaze

Diane — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 04:46:00 +0000

This mini lemon loaf recipe is adapted from Scientifically Sweet for my home bakery in Maryland.

Even though I specialize in chunky cookies, I was starting to get a little tired of just making cookies! Rather than officially expanding my product line, I decided to offer gift with purchases instead.

That way, I can bake whatever I want

And I’m sure some customers will ask for certain bakes to make a comeback. However, since they’re not part of my official lineup, I don’t have to bring them back.

(Of course, I probably will lol, but having the freedom not to is just in my Sag moon nature.)

Mini Lemon Loaf Recipe

This recipe makes 8 mini loaves. Based on the Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf by Scientifically Sweet.

Loaf Ingredients

150.00g White Sugar
82.50g Eggs (room temp)
7.50g Lemon Emulsion
42.00g Butter (melt)
45.00g Neutral Oil
60.00g Sour Cream (room temp)
3.75g Salt
176.25g AP Flour
3.60g Baking Powder
0.90g Baking Soda
60.00g Milk (room temp)

Glaze Ingredients

90.00g Powdered Sugar
22.50g Lemon Juice
0.47g Salt

Method

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
Place a silicone mini loaf pan on top of a half baking sheet. Set aside.
With a whisk and a mixing bowl or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add white sugar, eggs, and lemon emulsion. Mix until the sugar is dissolved.
Mix in butter, canola oil, sour cream, and salt until just combined.
In a separate mixing bowl, add AP flour, baking powder, and baking soda through a fine sieve. Mix until well combined.
If mixing by hand, switch to a silicone spatula — Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
Mix in milk until just combined.
Pour the 78g batter into each silicone mold.
Bake for 18-21 minutes
Set aside to cool completely.

Don’t have the baking pan I used? Here’s the recipe spreadsheet I created for this Glazed Lemon Loaf recipe.

Why a mini lemon loaf?

I originally wanted to offer thin and crispy s’mores cookies as my first gift with purchase — I know I said I was sick of making cookies, but I was sick of making chunky cookies, which take about 17 minutes to bake and is much too long for marshmallows to survive baking.

But, they were a complete disaster!!! The base recipe absolute sucked donkey balls.

So, I was thinking back on what I could make the night before the market. GG.

I already knew that my customers LOVE lemon as does my cousin who raved about this lemon loaf I made for Thanksgiving. So, I went back to my personal Cake Pan Converter Spreadsheet, which I created to take the pan size of any recipe into 25+ pan sizes, and decided to make mini lemon loaves.

Lemon people, as I lovingly call them, are incredibly loyal and reliable! I just knew that this would be a hit even more so than the s’mores cookies would have been.

Sometimes things going wrong leads to something going more right than if the wrong thing did go right lol.

Unsurprisingly, the mini lemon loaves were a smash hit! I successfully made upsells and ran out of mini lemon loaves with 2 hours to spare

Changes made to the original lemon loaf recipe

The original recipe uses lemon zest rubbed in granulated sugar to extract the oils in the lemon peel. But, I personally prefer using a lemon emulsion, which is a water-based flavoring, for consistency and control because sometimes the lemons in my area absolutely suck lol.

Another thing I do to almost all my bakes is use both salted butter and add more salt. I don’t know how, but I figured out the most salt you could add to a baked good using salted butter to get that salty-sweet balance people always talk about.

If you go looking for the salt, you can taste it. But, I’ve never had a complaint that my bakes were too salty.

Generally with baking, you want to use full-fat dairy products, but I only have 2% milk, so I used 2% milk. I do have full-fat sour cream so I think that helps combat any moisture loss from not using full-fat milk.

I also had to forgo the glaze because it was 9pm and didn’t have any lemons on hand, but honestly, it really didn’t need it!

Next time, I plan on adding a crumb topping to my mini lemon loaves — YUM.

My favorite baking tools

Like any good baker, I use a food scale — in fact, I have two! I don’t use cup or teaspoon measurements anymore to be honest.

I bought the smaller food scale with 0.01g accuracy before I started my business and needed a second food scale with a larger weight limit and another a 0.01g mini scale attached, so I really actually have three food scales lol.

my favorite food scale for everyday use

the best dual platform food scale for larger quantities!

I recently bought this silicone mini loaf pan for my brookies (brownie cookies) and this was PERFECT for my mini lemon loaves. One of my best business purchases!

Personally, I use a KitchenAid for… almost everything! I actually was given one by my aunt who used to run a convenience store with a kitchen! So, she gave it to me when she retired. It’s a hair small for my liking, but hey — it was free lol.

Conclusion

Whether you’re making these mini lemon loaves using my new favorite silicone mini loaf pan or want to bake the original recipe as is, I hope you can have faith that things don’t turn out for a reason like I’m learning to do.

Coming up with the idea to upsell with gift with purchases came from the need to get rid of some marshmallows. But, now I have an amazing new strategy to boost sales for my business and have some variety in my baking routine.

Still have the marshmallows by the way lol.

I think lemon loaves were the perfect launch to this new aspect of my business. I hope this scaled down version is helpful to you!

WANT MORE CONVERTED RECIPES?

Check out the Recipe Library to see what other bakes you can make in over 25 baking pan sizes!

Chocolate Cake-Off: Scientifically Sweet vs. Sugarologie

Diane — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 10:47:01 +0000

For some reason, it’s hard for me to land on the perfect chocolate cake. Everyone and their mother’s mother says, “this is the best chocolate cake ever — you’re never going to need another recipe.”

I’m going to spoil the ending: these aren’t it for me.

I just find that every chocolate cake recipe on the Internet isn’t actually chocolate-y. What you’re tasting is the chocolate frosting that’s paired with the recipe.

At least that’s my experience.

But, I’m sharing them anyways because maybe they’re for you? They are for a lot of other people.

Scientifically Sweet Chocolate Cake

This recipe makes 8 mini loaves.

Ingredients

180.00g Hot Coffee
187.50g AP Flour
42.00g Dutch Cocoa
3.60g Baking Soda
3.60g Baking Powder
150.00g Granulated Sugar
82.50g Brown Sugar
135.00g Sour Cream (room temp)
90.00g Canola Oil
75.00g Eggs (room temp)
5.00g Salt

Method

Follow instructions here.
Bake for 23-26 minutes.

My Verdict

Not chocolate-y enough.

Sugarologie Chocolate Cake

This recipe makes 8 mini loaves.

Ingredients

135.00g Hot Coffee
48.38g Dutch Cocoa
179.63g Brown Sugar
37.50g Granulated Sugar
75.00g Canola Oil
3.50g Salt
75.00g Eggs (room temp)
90.00g AP Flour
5.40g Baking Powder

Method

Follow instructions here.
Bake for 27-31 minutes.

My Verdict

Tasted like cheap grocery store cake. Something about it was too simple in an unrefined way.

The Diane Collective Chocolate Cake?

I tried a hybrid chocolate cake where I increased the cocoa levels of Scientifically Sweet Chocolate Cake to match the ratio in the Sugarologie Chocolate Cake.

Weirdly, the chocolate flavor almost evaporated from my taste buds as soon as I started chewing.

In retrospect, I should have increased the sugar along with the Dutch cocoa, but I already deleted the recipe.

It’s not worth sharing.

Who wins the chocolate cake-off?

No one. I don’t even win LOL

But, sometimes that’s how baking goes. Sometimes, things don’t hit even if they should.

While there is nothing chemically wrong with their recipes and are arguably perfect, it all comes down to taste and these aren’t to mine.

But wait — there’s more!

I did go back to my mini chocolate cake by Brooki Bakehouse review where I said I didn’t think I landed on the perfect chocolate cake with it, but I did note that I loved the flavor — just not the texture.

So, I lowered the amount of leveaners in my Chocolate Cake Spreadsheet.

A new blog post on Chocolate Hostess Cake Bars will debut it but I have it ready in the Recipe Library already!

WANT MORE CONVERTED RECIPES?

Check out the Recipe Library to see what other bakes you can make in over 25 baking pan sizes!

Mini Chocolate Chip Loaf

Diane — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 21:24:08 +0000

This mini chocolate chip loaf is so fluffy and flavorful that it’ll make you forget about the cookie!

The way this muffin recipe browns yields a very soft, moist, and flavorful bread with tons of caramelized flavor.

When I made this recipe, I scaled the recipe based off of the total weight instead of just the batter weight (chocolate chips are heavy, which skewed my calculations) so my mini chocolate chip muffin loaves are a little short.

This recipe has been increased by 25% from that of the mini chocolate chip loaf you see in these images.

The Best Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins by Scientifically Sweet

This recipe makes 8 mini loaves. Based on the Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins by Scientifically Sweet.

Ingredients

90.00 g Milk
60.00 g Sour Cream (room temp)
50.00 g Eggs (room temp)
30.00 g Neutral Oil
28.00 g Butter (melt)
5.00 g Vanilla Extract
3.00 g Salt
136.00 g AP Flour
4.80 g Baking Powder
1.20 g Baking Soda
100.00 g White Sugar
115.00 g Chocolate Chips
6.00 g AP Flour

Method

Pre-heat oven to 425°F.
Place a silicone mini loaf pan on top of a half baking sheet. Set aside.
With a whisk and a mixing bowl or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add milk, sour cream, eggs, canola oil, butter, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix to combine.
In a separate mixing bowl, add AP flour, baking powder, and baking soda through a fine sieve. Add white sugar to the dry ingredients. Mix together until well combined.
If mixing by hand, switch to a silicone spatula — Mix in half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
Mix in the remaining dry ingredients until just combined.
In an empty bowl, add mini chocolate chips and AP flour. Toss until the chocolate chips are evenly coated.
Fold the coated chocolate chips into the batter until just combined.
Set the batter aside for 30 minutes.
Add 75g of batter into each silicone mold.
Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes.
Lower the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for another 13-15 minutes, until golden-brown.
Set aside to cool.

Don’t have the pan I used? Here’s the recipe spreadsheet I created for this Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe.

My Verdict

These are definitely a permanent addition to my Cookie Cazimi and personal favorite line-up!

At this point, I’ve made mini lemon loaves, mini Zebra Cake bars, and mini chocolate cakes in these mini silicone loaf pans.

I can’t wait to see what I do next, haha.

WANT MORE CONVERTED RECIPES?

Check out the Recipe Library to see what other bakes you can make in over 25 baking pan sizes!

Zebra Cake Copycat with Eggless Vanilla Butter Cake by Sugarologie

Diane — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 21:00:34 +0000

I thought I would be making Zebra Cakes with the winner of my white cake comparison. But then, this Eggless Vanilla Butter Cake recipe came across my screen!

I run a home bakery in Maryland called Cookie Cazimi and started offering off-menu items as free gifts, so today you’re getting two recipes: the Egg-Free Vanilla Mini Loaf Cake and Zebra Cake Bars.

My Favorite Baking Tools

Egg-Free Vanilla Cake Recipe

This recipe makes 8 mini loaves. Based on the Eggless Vanilla Butter Cake by Sugarologie.

Ingredients

127.50g Greek Yogurt (room temp)
112.50g White Sugar
84.75g Milk (room temp)
42.00g Butter (melt)
3.75g Vanilla Extract
3.00g Salt
118.13g Cake Flour
16.88g Potato Starch
5.40g Baking Powder
0.90g Baking Soda

Method

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
Place a silicone mini loaf pan on top of a half baking sheet. Set aside.
In a large liquid measuring cup, combine Greek yogurt, white sugar, milk, butter, vanilla extract, and salt. Whisk together until combined and set aside.
With a mixing bowl and a silicone spatula or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add cake flour, potato starch, baking powder, and baking soda through a fine sieve. Mix together until well combined. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
Mix in half of the wet ingredients until just combined.
Slowly add in the remaining wet ingredients while mixing until just combined.
Add the 65g batter into each silicone mold cavity.
Bake for 23-26 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean with some crumbs.

Don’t have the pan I used? Here’s the recipe spreadsheet I created for this Egg-Free Vanilla Cake recipe.

Zebra Cake Recipe

This recipe covers 8 mini loaves.

Ingredients

96.00g Marshmallow Fluff
279.07g Chocolate Flavored Candy Melts
20.93g Vegetable Oil
40.00g Vanilla Flavored Candy Melts

Method

Prepare the cakes
- Cut each mini eggless vanilla butter cake in half horizontally.
- Place the bottom halves back into their molds.
Fill with marshmallow fluff
- Spoon the marshmallow fluff into a plastic bag and snip off the tip to create a piping bag.
- Pipe 10 g of marshmallow fluff onto each cake bottom.
- Place the top half of the cake back on and press gently to spread the marshmallow fluff evenly.
Freeze the cakes
- Place the filled cakes in the freezer until firm. This makes them easier to dip later!
Coat the sides
- Melt the vanilla candy melts with the vegetable oil until smooth.
- Using a fork or dipping tool, dip only the sides of each cake into the coating.
- Let excess drip off for 20–30 seconds.
- Place cakes on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet. In the video, you see me place them on a greased cooling rack but I don’t recommend it.
- After 1–2 minutes, gently move each cake to a fresh spot on the sheet to prevent sticking and pooling.
- Set aside to let the coating firm.
Full dip
- Re-dip each filled cake, this time covering the entire loaf in the vanilla coating.
- Let excess drip off for 20–30 seconds.
- Place onto the lined baking sheet again, moving each cake after a minute to prevent pooling.
Drizzle with chocolate
- Melt the chocolate candy melts until smooth.
- Using a fork, spoon, or piping bag, drizzle thin lines across the tops of the coated cakes to create the zebra stripe effect.
Set and serve
- Allow the cakes to fully set at room temperature or in the fridge until the coating hardens.
- Enjoy your homemade zebra cakes!

My Verdict on the Eggless Vanilla Butter Cake

This recipe is reminiscent of breakfast pancakes. It’s fluffy, not-too-sweet, and loaded with a maple-like flavor.

I prefer this flavor profile over the two white cake recipes I tested. The maple syrup-y back notes paired with an amazing chocolate butter frosting would go so hard!

There’s a nostalgic taste to these that make this my new go-to vanilla cake recipe.

WANT MORE CONVERTED RECIPES?

Check out the Recipe Library to see what other bakes you can make in over 25 baking pan sizes!

White Cake Comparison: Sugarologie vs Scientifically Sweet

Diane — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 23:28:28 +0000

Vanilla is boring. But, it’s also undeniably delicious! Today, I’m on the hunt for the perfect white cake.

Like chocolate cake, there’s no shortage of claims that they have the best recipe.

I decided to put my two favorite dessert bloggers in a head-to-head bake-off to see whose white cake comes out on top.

Let’s put them to the test!

Background

Because I will be selling these for my home bakery in Maryland, I am scaling them to fit mini loaf pans, which are one of the best purchases I have made for my small business.

Aside from adjusting the pan size with the Cake Pan Converter Spreadsheet, I didn’t make any other changes to the recipes themselves.

As always, I highly recommend you invest in a food scale. They’re inexpensive and your baking will be precise. These are the two I use:

The Contestants

The first recipe is by Adriana of Sugarologie, a PhD biochemist/molecular biologist who uses her hard science research background (like she’s actually reading and interpreting research papers correctly) to develop unique and delicious recipes.

She’s best known for her Cakeulator (a.k.a. Cake Calculator), which lets you scale her cake recipes to virtually any pan size.

The second recipe is by Christina Marsigliese of Scientifically Sweet, who is a food scientist and uses her industry expertise to develop (in my mind) not-too-sweet recipes that are easy for beginners.

I recently made mini chocolate chip muffin loaves and couldn’t believe how easy the steps were.

Sugarologie Vanilla Almond White Cake Recipe

This recipe makes 8 mini loaves.

Ingredients

63.72g Egg Whites (room temp)
26.34g Milk (room temp)
4.25g Vanilla Extract
152.93g Cake Flour
7.65g Potato Starch
127.44g White Sugar
6.12g Baking Powder
2.89g Salt
48.43g Butter (room temp)
28.89g Vegetable Oil
71.37g Milk (room temp)

Method

Follow the original mixing instructions from Sugarologie.
Pour 60g batter into each cavity of a silicone mini loaf pan.
Bake for 27-31 minutes

Scientifically Sweet The Best White Cake Recipe

This recipe makes 8 mini loaves.

Ingredients

113.13g White Sugar
48.24g Butter (room temp)
19.20g Oil
6.41g Vanilla Extract
51.23g Egg Whites (room temp)
51.23g Sour Cream (room temp)
169.62g AP Flour
3.07g Baking Powder
1.02g Baking Soda
76.85g Milk (room temp)

Method

Follow the original mixing instructions from Scientifically Sweet.
Pour 60g batter into each cavity of a silicone mini loaf pan.
- NOTE: I tested these with 50g of batter per cavity. If I were to make this recipe again, I’d try 60g instead.
Bake for 20-24 minutes

White Cake-Off Conclusion

How did Sugarologie’s White Cake turn out?

This recipe was super easy to put together and extra fun because Adriana uses the reverse creaming method. Instead of creaming butter and sugar first, you coat the flour with butter, oil, and sugar right from the start.

This helps limit gluten development, which gives the cake a tender, fine crumb while still holding its structure.

The loaves had fantastic lift, filled out the cavities beautifully, and looked very impressive.

How did Scientifically Sweet’s White Cake turn out?

This one had really nice flavor and browning, but it didn’t rise as much. The loaves didn’t look as fluffy or spectacular compared to Sugarologie’s either.

To be fair, I may have under-mixed it as Christina’s recipes are historically very reliable. But, flavor-wise, it wasn’t good enough for me to want to give it another try.

The Winner

Sugarologie takes the crown for the best white cake recipe in this bake-off!

Bonus Cake Recipe

You’d think that would be the end of the story, but while snooping around Sugarologie’s site, I stumbled on her Eggless Vanilla Butter Cake recipe.

One of my gripes with these white cake recipes is the leftover yolks!

Since I run a home bakery, I don’t like having waste — even though my dog enjoyed a little yolk sauce added to her dinner this time.

Whole egg recipes are much more practical for me. And an eggless version could be even better!

UPDATE (9/23/2025): Read the Egg-Free Vanilla Cake Recipe blog post!

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