Note: People were having trouble finding this recipe, so I’ve moved it. May 10 was my Dad’s birthday. This recipe was originally attached to that post.
As we get older things change. Or at least our perceptions of them do. About the time that Dad turned 70 he often would tell me about his birthday cake. Dad was born in 1921, so he grew up during the Great Depression. Lucky for him, his parents owned a small farm on the outskirts of a busy New England town that was a big manufacturing center. Still, money was tight. Every year for Dad’s birthday Grandma would make him a three-layer yellow cake put together with her own homemade raspberry jam, then frosted with thick whipped cream from their own cows. For several years just about every time I saw Dad he would tell me about that cake, how much he had hated it as a boy, how deprived he felt because his friends got real sugar frosting on their cakes – and how much he would give for one of those cakes now. I finally took the hint and made him this cake.
1-2-3-4 Cake
An American classic, One-two-three-four is probably the single best, most versatile cake recipe I know and while I do have a dependable yellow cake recipe that is less expensive to make, this is the cake recipe most often used in my kitchen. This would be equally good done with strawberries.
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour (cake or all-purpose, see Note)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powderAllow your butter to stand at room temperature for about a half an hour, then beat until it is smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until it is fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between additions. Stir in the salt, baking powder and vanilla. Add the flour a cup at a time, stirring to incorporate. Add about a third of the milk after each addition of flour. Once you’ve added all the flour and milk beat for about 2 minutes. Divide the batter among prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Preparing the pans: As I mentioned above, this is an extremely versatile recipe. It bakes very well as three to six 8 or 9″ layers, a 9 x 13, a tube or Bundt cake or several dozen cupcakes. For this cake I use three 9″ layers. Grease the bottom and sides of the pan you intend to use thoroughly with softened butter, then dust with flour. I like to line the bottom of layer cake pans with waxed paper to insure that the layers turn out easily and perfectly every time.
Lining the pans: Place the bottom of the pan on a sheet of waxed paper, then use the tip of a knife or a scissors blade to trace closely around the pan. Cut out the shape you’ve traced. Lightly grease the pan bottom to keep the waxed paper in place, then insert the waxed paper and grease/flour the pan as usual, including over the waxed paper. If you are lining more than one pan of the same shape and size, you can stack up several sheets of waxed paper so that you only have to trace the pan once. Waxed paper is thin enough that you can easily cut 3 or 4 at a time. If you prefer you may use parchment paper, but it is more expensive.
Baking times: Cake layers are done when the top is gently golden, the sides have just begun to pull away from the pan and the cake will spring back when gently touched with a finger near the middle of the cake. A toothpick or wire cake tester inserted in the cake will come out clean. I’ve always found that the cake is done or quite nearly so about the time that you begin to smell it baking. General time guides would be
Three 8-9″ layers or cupcakes, 20-25 minutes
9 x 13″ pan, 35-45 minutes
tube or Bundt pan, 45 minutes to 1 hour
Do keep in mind that just exactly how long varies with your altitude, the air pressure and your particular stove. The best guide is a careful eye – but leave the oven door shut! Nothing will ruin a cake faster than repeatedly opening and closing the oven door.
Remove the cake from the oven, let cool for a minute or two, then turn out onto a cake rack. The easy way to do this is to place the rack over the top of the pan. Using pot holders to protect your hands, put one hand firmly on top of the rack and the other under the cake pan, then quickly flip the cake-rack sandwich so that the cake pan is now on top of the rack. Lift off the pan and immediately remove the waxed paper disc from the cake layer. Allow the layers to cool until they are no longer even faintly warm to the touch.
NOTE: You can freeze the cake at this point. Wrap each layer tightly in plastic wrap, then place inside a ziplock bag or a large plastic freezer container. Use within 4 to 6 weeks.
Assemble the cake: Place one layer in the center of your cake plate top side up. Frost the top with 1/3-1/2 cup of raspberry jam. Seedless jam is nicest. You can push regular raspberry jam through a sieve with a spoon to remove the seeds if need be. Place a second layer on top of the jam, top side facing the jam. Cover that layer with jam, then put your final layer in place. Whip 1 cup of heavy or whipping cream with 1 tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar. You don’t want the cream to be too soft (it will run off the cake) but be careful not to whip it so much you turn it to butter. (Do NOT throw this out if you do! It is real butter.) Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, then pile the cream in the center of the top layer. Use a knife or thin spatula to frost the cake, pulling the cream down to cover the sides. Decorate with a few fresh raspberries.
About the Flour: You can use either all-purpose or cake flour in this recipe. Layers made with cake flour will be lighter & more fragile. In either case, stir the flour to aerate it, then use a big spoon to pile it into your measuring cup or dip the cup down into the flour and lightly scoop to fill the measure to overflowing. Do not pack the flour down! Level the top using the straight edge of a table knife. No matter how many TV personalities level their measuring cups with a finger, this is NOT the correct way to get accurate measures for baking.
