Monday's Menu

When I made the Dude's birthday cake a couple of weeks ago, he specifically requested that it be home made. In other words, he would prefer that I not use a cake mix. So I yanked out my trusty ole' yellow cake recipe. Making your own cake can be really satisfying. It's another one of those skills that make you feel independent and smart.

Not only that... home made baked goods are often denser than their mix counterparts. That means that they are both more filling as well as being better equipped to do some fun and crafty things with. I personally don't think they are as likely to fall or react to slamming doors and such either but I don't know that it is proven.

This is a recipe I got from a very old cookbook called the Family Circle ABZ's of Cooking. It must actually be like an encyclopedia type set because the only one I have is labeled Volume 4. This was originally listed as a cupcake recipe but I have used for both cupcakes and whole cakes. In fact, Hubby commented several times on how good the birthday cake was.

I hope you'll try making a cake from scratch. It's actually not any more difficult in my opinion than opening a box and measuring out the mess you have to add to a cake mix. And I say that as someone who most of the time is too lazy to sift flour and such. It is especially easy if you have a free standing mixer. I promise to give you a fun, creative way to use this recipe later too.

Yellow Cake/Cupcakes

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating after each addition until smooth. Pour into greased and floured cake pans or paper lined cupcake tins (fill half full). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until middle tests done. Remove from pans. Cool completely before frosting.