Old Fashioned Birthday Cake

Its been years since I've made a cake mix cake. I adore white cake, and have been on the hunt for the perfect white cake. I'm wanting a very tender crumb, moist (of course) with a silvery white color. ATK's concept is to start with dry ingredients, then to cut in the butter. In a separate bowl the wet ingredients of milk, egg whites, vanilla and a little almond extract are gradually added in and not overmixed. The theory is that gluten won't be built up. I used King Arthur Flour's cake flour, and I weighed my dry ingredients. I was hoping to make 3-8" cakes, but there wasn't enough batter, so I made 2-8" cakes. The cake turned out very moist, and had a nice crumb. It wasn't silvery white, but I'm thinking it could be that I won't use bleached flour...and I used pure vanilla that might have added color. I didn't make the almond filling with raspberry jam (really wanted to) but I think I would try that version. Overalll, it's a very good white cake. The hunt continues...