Old Fashioned Yellow Butter Cake
This old fashioned yellow butter cake recipe is a no nonsense basic–it’s easy, economical and it only uses one bowl. After all, the recipe is over 100 years old!
It doesn’t use any fancy ingredients: flour, butter, eggs and milk are just a few of the everyday staples you will need. In other words, ingredients you would expect to find in a cake. Yet the result is so impressive! It turns out soft, moist and so buttery. It’s neutral and versatile for any occasion, from birthdays to potlucks and even weddings. And you can fill and frost it with whatever you like, so it’s a recipe worth filing away for all your cake baking needs.
What Ingredients do I Need for This Yellow Butter Cake?
You only need a short list of everyday pantry staples to make this old fashioned cake. They are:
- All purpose flour
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Butter
- Milk
- Eggs
- Vanilla
Plus whatever frosting and/or filling you like. It’s so good however that you could even enjoy it as it is!
Can I Use Cake Flour Instead of All Purpose?
Yes you can. We’ve tested it with cake flour and it turns out even more soft and moist. However it still comes out just as good with all purpose. We tried it with both store bought cake flour and the homemade version of cake flour and both resulted in an equally softer, fluffier cake.
How do I Make my Own Cake Flour?
It’s so easy to make your own homemade cake flour if you don’t want to buy it. For each cup of all purpose flour you need for a recipe, simply remove 2 tablespoons and replace it with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. You can even make a large batch of it and have it ready to go for all your cake recipes that call for it!
Tips for Making the Best Old Fashioned Yellow Butter Cake
To get the best results for this simple classic cake, follow these recommended tips.
- Use very soft butter. Because this cake uses the reverse creaming method, your butter needs to be soft enough to incorporate easily. Using firm butter can make it difficult to blend into the flour mixture. This can leave behind stubborn lumps of butter that can make your cake batter uneven in texture.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Not only should the butter be room temperature (and very soft), but your milk and eggs should also be at room temperature. If you use cold milk and eggs, they won’t blend into the other ingredients properly. This can make your cake batter curdled or split. Then your baked cake will be full of grease spots rather than turning out uniformly textured.
- Use parchment paper. While this is an optional step, lining the bottom of your cake pans with parchment paper rather than just greasing or flouring makes releasing the cake much easier.
- Do not refrigerate your finished cake. Unless you plan to keep your cake around for 3 days or more, store your cake on the counter with a cover. Refrigerating a cake made with butter makes it hard and even seem dry. So unless you filled or frosted it with a parishable filling or frosting (like custard, whipped cream or French buttercream), do not refrigerate it.
The next time you need a yellow cake for a birthday, gathering with friends or even just a treat for your family, I hope you’ll give this easy old fashioned yellow butter cake a try. And if you do, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment about how it turned out for you!
If You Enjoyed This Recipe, You Might Like These Tasty Cake Recipes Too!
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Old Fashioned Yellow Butter Cake
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
- Sifter
- Electric mixer
- Spatula
- 2 8 inch cake pans
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
CAKE
- 2 cups all purpose flour 240g
- 1¼ cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter, soft
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
CHOCOLATE FROSTING
- ½ cup butter
- ⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3-4 cups icing sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE
- Preheat oven to 350℉/177℃. Grease two 8 inch round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. You can also dust lightly with flour.
- *Have all ingredients at room temperature* In a large mixing bowl sift together all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Using an electric mixer, beat in butter for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture resembles damp sand.
- Slowly add in the milk then the vanilla. Beat another minute until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary to incorporate all the ingredients.
- Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend for another minute until smooth.
- Divide batter evenly among prepared cake pans. Batter will look fairly thin. Tap pans lightly on counter top to release any air bubbles. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until tops are lightly golden and cake tester comes out clean. Tops should also spring back when lightly pressed in the middle.
- Cool cakes in pans for 10-15 minutes, then carefully remove by running a knife around the edges and releasing. Cool cakes completely on a wire rack. Fill and frost.
FOR THE FROSTING
- In a small saucepan melt butter and add cocoa powder. Remove from heat. Stir well to bloom the cocoa, then transfer mixture into a medium mixing bowl.
- Add salt and gradually beat in 2 cups of the icing sugar. Add milk slowly. Now beat in enough additional icing sugar to make a spreadable consistency.