1 cup butter (room temperature) no substitutions
1½ cups granulated sugar
8 egg YOLKS (yes, EIGHT!!)
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups cake flour (see note below)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat your oven to 350° and grease and flour two 9" cake pans that are at least 2" deep (this cake rises a lot!!)
Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside (I sift it twice).
Beat the butter and sugar together, on high, for two or three minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl about once a minute.
Add the egg YOLKS, one at a time (important), beating well in between each yolk. Add the vanilla.
Now you will need to add the flour alternately with the milk; start with flour and ending with flour. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl once in a while. I add the flour about 1/2 cup at a time, then add a little milk, then another half cup of flour. Batter will be very thick, like this:
Bake 9" layers in preheated 350° oven for 25-30 minutes. If you are making cupcakes, bake them for about 20 minutes or until golden on top. With either pan, the cake will spring back a little when lightly touched when it's fully cooked.
NOTE: This recipe calls for two cups of cake flour. If you don't have any, you can substitute the following: put 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a 1 cup measuring cup and then fill the cup with all purpose flour. This is a great substitution for cake flour. You will need to do this twice...once for each cup.
