Instructions:
This old-fashioned cake appeared in church cookbooks through many decades. The name makes the formula for the cake easy to remember: 1 cup shortening, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, and 4 eggs is the basic recipe. Originally it was a pound cake that contained no liquid. But, over the generations, with the addition of baking powder, salt, milk, and vanilla, it has evolved into a basic yellow layer cake, more typical of American tastes.
- 1 cup butter;
- 2 cups sugar;
- 4 eggs;
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, stirred before measuring;
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt;
- 3 teaspoons baking powder;
- 1 cup milk;
- 1 teaspoon vanilla;
- Rich Custard Filling;
- Whipped Cream Frosting.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour three 8- or 9-inch-round cake pans.
- Cream butter and sugar until blended. Add the eggs and beat until light. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture, mixing until smooth and creamy. Blend in the vanilla.
- Divide the batter among the cake pans and smooth to even. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until cakes shrink away from the sides of the pans and are golden. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes before turning out of pans. Spread 2 layers with Rich Custard Filling; stack, placing the layer without filling on top. Frost the cake with Whipped Cream Frosting.
MAKES THREE 8- OR 9-INCH LAYERS
