Ask Nancy

Simply omitting the chocolate (whether it’s melted chocolate or cocoa) will not create a very good vanilla white cake. A true white cake uses only egg whites, and most chocolate cakes are made with whole eggs. If you really mean a yellow cake, which is made with whole eggs, if the original recipe was made with melted chocolate, you’ll need to add additional fat; if the original recipe used cocoa powder, you will need to adjust the amount of flour up and probably sugar down – both options will require some experimentation.