1-2-3-4 Cake!

My great grandma had a cake she used to make for people's birthday's. It was my dad's favorite, and he talks about it ALL the time. For a long time I thought it was a "secret" recipe, but after reading through it... it's the one on the back of the flour box. SO... I don't feel bad at all passing it on :-P It's a light and fluffy VERY sweet vanilla. I can understand why my dad loved it as a kid... and he still does!!

The "special" part about this cake appears to be the flour... the recipe my Great Aunt gave me has measurements for cake flour and regular flour, so you probably don't need it, but the "special" flour is Soft-As-Silk flour by General Mills. It's not ALWAYS on the back of the box, but apparently you can get the flour from their website. Fortunately for me, it's in my regular grocery store here! :-D

So here it is:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups cake flour (or 2 3/4 cups regular flour)
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Mix softened butter and sugar well
Add eggs one at a time
Mix flour, baking powder and salt, then sift it.
Mix flour mixture and milk into batter alternately and in thirds.
Add vanilla
Grease the pan with crisco and dust with flour or spray with Pam with Flour (works wonders)
Pour batter in pan and bake for 45-55 minutes at 350* or until a toothpick comes out clean

**warning: I have a heart shaped bundt pan, and it OVERFLOWED out of the pan - enough to make, I dunno, a few cupcakes?

I'd either make a 3 layer cake from this recipe, or some cupcakes too!  Don't overfill your pan like I did!

This would probably easily make a bundt cake and about 6 cupcakes, a 3 layer cake, or close to 18 cupcakes. So be ready for a party!

Great Grandam used the icing recipe from the BOX of confectionery (powdered) sugar, but if you buy the bag...

Mix
1/2 stick softened butter
2 tablespoons crisco
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
Milk and Sugar to desired spreading consistency - generally 4 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup milk.

I made a simple chocolate ganache... chocolate chips and some heavy cream heated up in the microwave SLOWLY and mixed together until it was smooth. I put the chips in a pyrex measuring cup, and then poured whipping cream in until it was halfway up the chips. Add more chocolate to make it thicker, more cream to make it thinner... and just drizzle it over the cake. DELISH.

Enjoy!!