Yellow Cake - Master Recipe for All-Purpose Yellow Cake

ingredients

2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

directions

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1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350˚F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans and cover the bottom of each pan with a circle of parchment.
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2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt onto waxed paper.
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3. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed for 30 seconds. Continue beating and gradually add the sugar. Beat until light-colored, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on high speed for 30 seconds after each addition and scraping down the bowl as necessary. After all the eggs have been added, beat for 1 additional minute. The mixture should appear thick and dull.
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4. Add about one-third of both the flour mixture and the milk and beat on low speed or by hand until just incorporated. Add the vanilla and then the remaining flour and milk in two batches, beating between additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir by hand to finish. Be careful not to overbeat at this point.
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5. Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Turn the pans back and forth on the work surface to level out the batter and then smooth the surface to level out the batter and then smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. Place pans in oven on the middle rack, a few inches apart, and bake for about 30 minutes, rotating the pans 180˚ halfway through baking. Check the cakes after 22 minutes. When they are done, the tops of the cakes should be golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed in the center and a cake tester should come out clean. They should have begun to shrink back from the sides of the pan.
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6. Remove the pans to a cooling rack. Let rest for 5 minutes. Run a small knife or metal spatula around the sides of the pans and invert cakes onto lightly greased racks. Remove parchment paper. Reinvert onto cooling rack. Let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours, or until completely cooled.
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7. Orange Cake variation: Reduce vanilla to 1 teaspoon. When adding the vanilla, add 1 tablespoon finely shopped orange zest and 1 teaspoon natural orange oil or 1 1/2 teaspoons natural orange extract.

Carol’s notes:

Good butter cake recipe, slightly heavy texture although not as heavy as a pound cake. But not as light as a cakey cake. Made the orange cake variation but didn’t taste very orangey – maybe not enough orange zest or didn’t use strong enough zest from oranges. Baked just under 30 minutes.