Basic Vanilla Cake

Submitted by Pinay0618

"I found this in Country Living magazine to fulfill a request for a vanilla cake with strawberry frosting. The mixing technique is a little different from most cakes I've made - save yourself a little mess and make sure to use a deep bowl. Since then, this has become a favorite in our home - frosted or not, this cake is really nice. It does tend to dry out quickly, but the small size means it usually gets eaten before then. NOTE: This recipe is for the vanilla cake only, not the strawberry frosting."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Yields: 1 8" cake layer

ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups cake flour, sifter
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄2 cup whole milk

directions

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8-inch cake pan with butter and dust with all-purpose flour. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
2. Beat in the butter one heaping 1/4 teaspoonful at a time, using an electric mixer set on low speed, until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Beat in the sugar a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture resembles fine damp sand. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and milk, and beat on medium-high, just until blended. Do not overbeat.
3. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean — 30 to 35 minutes. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

Reviews

[Librarybaker]

The cake made a good, tasty base for a strawberry shortcake. I don't think I would make it for anything else, because it was a dense, not too sweet cake. But that made it an excellent choice for a shortcake (our family doesn't care for the biscuit style shortcake). I also think the temperature was a bit high as my cake was quite dark in 30 minutes. I ended up cutting off some crust.

 

[Adrien V.]

This cake turned out quite well. Moist on the inside with a nice crust and not overly sweet. I put whipped cream and strawberries into two mini cakes I made and they were beautiful AND tasty in the end. I will use this recipe again in the future!

 

[girlyhenry]

You should probably add an ingrediant, like Strawberries to make it taste better.