Basic Yellow Cake

I have been searching for the perfect yellow cake for a long time to make for birthdays, weddings, etc.  This might be it.  I found the recipe at Smitten Kitchen.  It has a good flavor, and possibly more importantly, it is moist.  I never have trouble with other flavors of cake being moist, but yellow just never seems to be quite moist enough.  The cake was also incredibly easy to work with.  I used two eight inch pans, which meant I had really thick layers, so I torted them.  This was definitely the easiest cake to torte I have every made.  And, if that wasn't enough to make you try it, the fact that it iced so easily might do it.  I almost think I could have forgone the crumb coat.  All that being said, I am not one hundred percent sure this is the one, so I will continue to try more recipes, and keep you updated on the progress.

Basic Yellow Cake

4 cups plus 2 Tbsps. cake flour

2 tsps. baking powder

1 ½ tsps. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 tsps. vanilla extract 

2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour two eight in round cake pans.  (This will make two very thick layers, so you could use three pans, but you will need to watch the time carefully so that you don’t overcook your layers.)  Wisk together flour remove any lumps.  In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time beating after each addition.  Add vanilla and buttermilk and mix until well combined.  Add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt one at a time mixing after each addition.  Mix in the flour in three additions.  Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  My layers began to brown a bit too much after about 30 minutes, so I covered them loosely with foil to prevent further browning.  My cakes came out a bit domed on top, but just like the torting, this was easy to cut off with a knife.  When the cake is done, allow the layers to cool in the pan on a wire rack for about ten minutes.  Invert the layers onto the wire rack and allow to cool completely before frosting with your favorite frosting.  I used a quick buttercream that can be found here.

Source: Smitten Kitchen