Basic Butter Cake

Basic Butter Cake

From Good Housekeeping
triple-tested at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute

Ingredients:

2 cups	all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon	baking powder
1/4 teaspoon	salt
3/4 cup	whole milk
1-1/2 teaspoons	pure vanilla extract or 1 tsp. pure almond extract
1-1/4 cups	sugar
3/4 cup	butter or margarine, softened to room temperature
3 large	eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 13" by 9" metal baking pan, or three 8-inch round or two 9-inch round cake pans. Dust pans with flour.
2. On waxed paper, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In cup, mix milk and vanilla; set aside.
3. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat sugar and butter just until blended. Increase speed to high and beat 3 minutes or until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture just until blended, scraping bowl occasionally.
5. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 40 to 45 minutes for 13" by 9" cake, 23 to 25 minutes for 8 and 9 inch layers, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. With a knife, loosen sides of cake from pans and invert onto wire rack to cool completely.