Yellow Cake

This tastes so much better than using a mix, and not that much more difficult.  It was somewhat similar to the vanilla cupcake recipe I posted ages ago; I think I may like that one slightly better, but it may have been the buttercream. 

This recipe is from How to Cook Everything.  It makes 2 layers (at least 10 servings); in the picture above, I halved the recipe, made one layer, and made a half-layer cake. 

Ingredients:
10 T (1-1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 c. cake or all-purpose flour
1-1/4 c. sugar
4 eggs or 8 yolks (for my half-cake, I used 1 egg and 2 yolks, since I needed 2 whites for the frosting)
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t almond extract
2-1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
3/4 c. milk 

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Grease the bottom and sides of two 9-inch layer cake pans; put a circle of parchment paper on the bottom of each, and grease that, too.

2.  Cream the butter until smooth; gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy (3-4 mins.)  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; add to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the milk.  Beat in each addition on low speed, just until combined.

3.  Pour batter into the pans.

Bake 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  If you're only making one layer, this will take less time, as mine was a bit overdone.  Let cool in pans for 5 minutes.

  Invert onto a rack

and remove parchment to finish cooling.

4.  Frost with almost any icing.  Good choices would include raspberry or vanilla buttercream, chocolate ganache, or straight up whipped cream (with or without strawberries).