Dear Reader,
Several years ago, I asked my son, "What kind of cake would you like me to make for your birthday party?"
I expected him to place an order for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, because he loves my chocolate pie, and chocolate brownies, and he always used to steal chocolate chip cookie dough when he was a kid. "Hey Mom, look over there.." And when I'd turn and look the other way, he'd scoop a handful of cookie dough out of my mixing bowl. My son loves chocolate.
So when he requested a yellow cake with chocolate frosting--what a surprise! A yellow cake? Every year I've baked his birthday cake and it's never been yellow. I didn't even have a recipe for a yellow cake. So I started looking through some of my old cookbooks. My thinking was, that a cake recipe from a back-in-the-day cookbook, when everything was made from scratch, would have to be a winner. But when I baked the cake the night before the party, it looked dry, and--it didn't look very yellow to me.
So what the heck makes a yellow cake yellow? A good friend and Google came to my rescue. "A yellow cake has egg yolks, a white cake has whole eggs," my friend emailed, and she also included her recipe for a yellow cake.
I made the cake for my son…with chocolate frosting. It was divine.
Yellow Cake
6 large egg yolks
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups plus 3 tablespoons sifted all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch x 1 1/2 inch cake pans with non-stick spray and then line bottoms with parchment paper, then spray again with the non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl lightly combine the egg yolks, 1/4 cup milk and vanilla extract.
Combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until blended. Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 2 minutes and scrape sides of bowl. Gradually add the egg mixture, in 3 additions, beating 30 seconds after each addition.
Divide the batter and pour into the prepared pans, smooth the surface with a spatula. (Pans will be about half full.) Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until cake springs back when pressed lightly in center.
Place the cakes, in their pans, on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Invert the cakes onto a greased rack. To prevent splitting, turn cakes right side up. Cool completely before frosting.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
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