Egg Shaped Butter Cakes

Preheat oven to 325; butter and flour the egg cake plaque/pan.

In a bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt, sift three times, and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat on medium speed until the mixture is light and creamy, 4-5 minutes (scraping bowl at intervals). Add beaten eggs slowly, a little at a time, and continue beating until mixture is thick, fluffy., and nearly double in volume, 4-5 minutes more.

Remove bowl from mixer. Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold in one quarter of the flour, then one-third of the milk. Continue folding in flour and milk alternately. Lastly, fold in the vanilla. Carefully divide the batter among the wells in cake plaque. Bake cakes in center of oven until the tops are set and spring back when touched and the sides of the cake slightly pull away from the pan, 18022 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let rest, 1-2 minutes. Turn egg cakes out onto a cooling rack with a sheet of wax paper beneath rack.

Once the egg cakes have cooled, trim the bottoms of cake with a serrated knife to create a flat surface. Return each cake flat side down to the cooling rack with the rounded side facing up. Coat with Confectioners Sugar Icing (see recipe in this book), then decorate.