This is a recipe I found online, and many of the reviewers convinced me it’s the best recipe for homemade yellow butter cake – not too dry, tender, flavorful. I’m certainly impressed with it so far – having only nibbled on the “bump” that I sliced off the top of each layer. 😉
2 c cake flour (or if using all-purpose flour, replace 4 T of flour with 4 T of cornstarch)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c butter
1 1/2 c white sugar (this made VERY sweet cake. Yes, cake is supposed to be sweet – but next time I think I’ll cut it to just 1+ cup and see how that goes …)
8 egg yolks (1 reviewer said she uses 4 whole eggs instead and it turns out fine)
1 1/2 t vanilla
3/4 c milk
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 8″ round cake pans.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt (and cornstarch, if using). DON’T SKIP THIS STEP! Everything you do adds to the cake’s fluffiness and texture – if you get lazy you’ll end up with a hard, dry, coarse cake.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Really give them a good whip! The fluffier you make them, the better.
Beat in the eggs one at a time. Don’t skip this step! When your egg yolks (or eggs) are well incorporated, add the vanilla.
Stir in the flour mixture and milk. Important: Add a little bit of flour first, then alternate with the milk. Make sure to finish with the flour.
Once the batter is poured into the pan, make sure and tap it against the counter a few times to spread the batter so that it will rise more evenly. (This really works! The resulting dome effect was much less than usual!)
Bake for 25-30 minutes; cool 15 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks.