How To Make Yellow Cake

Today is the second recipe out of the Ohio State Grange Cook Book, Eleventh Edition, 1949.

It’s the yellow cake to go with the chocolate frosting. It’s not a lemon cake, it’s yellow. The flavor is actually vanilla and almond, and very subtle. It’s very nearly a blank canvas to support the frosting, so mild I can’t imagine any frosting that it would clash with.

If you’re a cake fan who usually scrapes off the frosting, you probably want something with more flavor. If you just need cake to justify eating the frosting, this is the one for you.

Ingredients

1½ cups sugar
½ cup butter
2¼ cups cake flour
1 cup milk
¼ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
3 eggs

Directions

Let the butter warm up to room temperature. Or do like we did and nuke it until it’s just starting to melt. Cream it together with the sugar — This is the “Creaming Method“. Follow that link to see Jenni‘s explanation of all the details.

Sift in the flour and baking powder and add the salt.

Mix in the milk.

Add the vanilla and almond and mix.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each one.  And yes, it matters. You won’t get the same texture if you just add all three and mix. (Did you follow that link to the Creaming Method earlier? Why not? Go read it, especially the part at the bottom about the eggs. I’ll wait … )

Pour the batter into two greased and floured 9-inch round pans.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean but wet. If it comes out dry, you’ve overshot.

Remove from pans, allow to cool, and assemble with frosting.

Like I said when I showed the chocolate frosting, this went on almost like a ganache. Wipe the edge of the plate before the frosting sets so it looks nice when you set it out.

And that’s it.