Yellow Cake: America's Favorite, Yet Most Misunderstood Cake

Growing up Yellow cake with chocolate frosting was a family favorite. Usually still a little warm with the frosting a little gooey and a glass of cold milk. It was good when we made it at home, but it was always so much better at my grandmother, Ms. Christine's house. I never knew why until years later as she would shew everyone out of the kitchen, only allowing you back when she said it was "ok". Usually that came once the mess was cleaned up and whatever she was working on was already in the oven or in the pan. I'll admit I would always try to find an excuse to go through the kitchen to get a peek at what she was in there doing.  

She caught on and seeing my interest was more than just that of a curious child wanting to know what the grown-ups were doing in another room, she would eventually let me stay, but only at the kitchen table to watch and not be in the way. 

Watching her was like watching a whirl wind of strength, I say strength because she did everything by hand, no electric mixers, or short cuts. She would pull out ingredients throw them in  bowl and begin mixing in a rhythm all her own, I still can hear it in my head, "thapht, thapht, thapt, thapt..tap tap tap...thapht... thapht.. thapht...thapht..." the sound of the whisk going through the batter and hitting the bowl. I was always amazed by how quick her arm moved as she would mix batters, she wasn't the quickest woman in the world, in fact outside of the kitchen she moved rather slow. But there, in that kitchen she was like wonder woman to me. 

My grandmother was the queen of cakes, everyone raved on and on about her cakes and when the holidays came the house was FULL of family and guests, who love the meals but were really just waiting in anticipation until she opened "The Dessert Suite" as I now call it. It was just the middle bedroom that had a pass through so you could easily flow through the house, go in through the hallway in the kitchen and come out in the hallway by the living and dining room. 

She would cook for days to fill that room with amazing cakes and treats and nobody, not even me, was allowed in that room unless you loved cake more than your life. My Granddaddy would get brave every now and again and quickly get shewed out. It was like she had eyes all over that house, she could be in the deepest corner of the kitchen, with her back turned and all the sudden you would hear her yell "BJ get away from those cakes!!!" in wonderment from my seat at the kitchen table I would turn and sure enough he'd come out of that room with a smile. A couple of times he tried to involve me, thinking she wouldn't yell at me, but that didn't save either of us lol. 

I'm not sure of any of her recipes, she was always so secretive. So when I set out to start my own company I was just out on my faith, using God inspired recipes.

When I first started my company O Taste and See Treats, my very first custom order was for a "Yellow" cake... I was mortified! In a panic, I scoured the internet and tried multiple recipes just to be VERY disappointed. It was through that study that I came to realize, most people do not have a true understanding of what "Yellow" cake is... making it the most misunderstood cake, next to "Red Velvet", but I'll save that for another post.

Getting a firm grasp on what "Yellow Cake" actually was my first step, and I've since developed a recipe I invite you to try and give your feed back on.

So let's start with the basics. What is "Yellow Cake"??? You ready for it??? Are you sitting down??? Ok good...  it's just cake with egg yolks in it, as opposed to "White cake" that only has egg whites in it.... just blew your mind didn't it??? 

You'll see it called "Yellow Cake, Yellow Butter Cake, Yellow Vanilla Cake, Vanilla, etc...and whatever other fancy name the boxed cake industry wants to call it to get you to buy MORE, but it's the SAME cake.  Ask them to explain the differences to you... look at the ingredients on the back/side of the box...it's the same for the most part. But today we're not talking about boxed cake, which coincidentally is what we grew up eating at home, and what most Americans are used to, we're talking about delicious moist cake from scratch like my grandmother used to make. Trust me it's not as hard as you think...

What you'll need:

A preheated oven at 350

Greased and floured Pans with parchment bottom (can omit parchment but it makes life easy)

2 cups of sifted flour (use your favorite, if you're using cake flour remember to adjust your measurements)

2 cups of granulated sugar

2 sticks of butter (Butter, not oil or margarine but BUTTER, I cannot stress this enough)

4 room temp eggs

2 teaspoons good quality vanilla (or to your liking personally I use 3-4)

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup of heavy cream (or milk will do)

*Optional ingredient 2 tbs vanilla pudding mix

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

Stand or electric mixer will work just fine:

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.

Mix in 1 egg at a time giving it time to be fully incorporated 30 seconds to 1 minute

Add Vanilla, Water and Cream to butter, sugar, egg mixture and mix on med low for about 1-3 minutes. 

While that's mixing, in a separate bowl sift your flour, add in the salt and baking soda to the flour. Whisk all of these ingredients together. *If you're adding pudding, add it to the flour mixture before whisking and whisk in into the flour. 

Turn your mixer off and scrape down the sides of your bowl, add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture, let that incorporate in, then add about 1/2 of your buttermilk, let that incorporate in.. then another 1/3 of the flour, incorporate in, the rest of your buttermilk, incorporate in, then the last of the flour. The measurements here don't really matter you just want to go flour, milk, flour, milk, flour. It all works out in the end. 

Let it all mix for about 1 minute on med to med-hi depending on your mixture. 

Pour into the waiting greased pan and bake for about 30 mins. I say about because every oven and region is different, you want the cake to golden brown on top, it doesn't need to be pulling away from the sides, but make sure a toothpick comes out clean. 

Pair with your favorite frosting, chocolate, cream cheese, vanilla, you name it. that's the joy of "Yellow" cake, it goes with everything.