My mother-in-law gave me this recipe. She has been making it for her family’s birthdays for years. I have since used it to make many birthday cakes. It is a popular request from my family.
Yellow Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1-1/4 cups buttermilk
- 1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease two 8 by 2-inch cake pans. Dust bottoms and sides with flour, tap out any excess.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a mixer cream butter until light and fluffy.
- Gradually add sugar beating until fluffy about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Gradually add eggs beating after each addition until batter is no longer slick.
- Slowly add the flour mixture on low speed, alternating with buttermilk, a little at a time, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
- Beat in vanilla.
- Divide batter evenly between prepared pans.
- Bake for 25 minutes; rotate the pans in the oven if needed for even browning.
- Continue baking until a cake tester inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, 10 to 20 minutes more.
- Transfer to wire racks to cool, 15 minutes.
- Remove cakes from pans; set cakes top side down on wire racks, and allow to cool completely about 1 hour.
- To assemble, Reserve the one with the flattest bottom surface to use as the top layer of the cake. Place the other cake, top side down, on the cake plate as the first layer. Spread a 1/2 cup of filling of choice within 1/2 inch of the edge. Place in the refrigerator to firm up the filling. Once the filling is firm, place the remaining cake, top side down, on top, and press down slightly.
- Frost cake with the desired frosting, and then chill until frosting sets, about 10 minutes; serve.
Notes
I use lemon for the filling and frost with a chocolate frosting. The total cooking time in my oven is 28 to 30 minutes.