Basic Yellow Cake

aka: Basic Yellow Cake masquerading as a French Vanilla Cake.

You may be wondering why in the world I gave this cake an "alternate" title. You see, I was commissioned to bake 3 separate three-layer cakes for an upcoming surprise party. Luckily the decorating was left to someone slightly more skilled than myself (ok...ALOT more skilled. Oh, but just so you know I really hope to take a couple cake decorating classes through Wilton one of these days. So fun, no?) Anyways, one of the cakes requested was a French Vanilla. Easy enough, right? Wrong! I was certain I had at least one recipe in my collection and when I found the opposite to be true I searched my trusty internet for another option. But even the world wide web failed me! I found only 1 French Vanilla recipe and I didn't feel like using 6 eggs in ONE cake so I passed. Most of the recipe options were "take this Duncan Hines cake mix and add to it....blah blah blah." How lame-o is that!? Even the Wilton website didn't have a French Vanilla Recipe. So....I opted for the following and it has turned out beautifully:

Wilton's Basic Yellow Cake.

3 cups sifted cake flour (all purpose seemed to work fine for me)

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans and line with waxed paper or parchment paper. (I greased pans with shortening and sifted flour on top.) Sift together flour, baking powder and salt (I "sift" by combining ingredients and stirring with a wire wisk); set aside. Cream sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Fill and frost as desired. Cake serves 12.