Chris's Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday Christopher! By request, here is a vanilla butter cake.

the new work space

very proud of this beautiful pan extraction

Best Butter Cake (recipe from Sunset: Living in the West magazine)

simple, yummy, extremely versatile

2 1/4 c cake flour, sifted

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 c sugar

1/2 c unsalted butter at room temp

1 large eggs at room temp

2 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 c milk

Cake flour VS All-purpose flour:

Cake flour is made from soft wheats while all-purpose is made from a blend of hard and soft wheat flours and is not as high in gluten as cake flour.  if you only have all-purpose just use this conversion factor, 1 cup baking flour = 1 cup minus 2 tbsp all-purpose

1. sift together dry ingredients. blend together sugar and butter until creamy. crack eggs into sepearte bowl and add vanilla. add one egg at a time. mix dry ingredients into sugar mixture in small batches, alternating with milk. make sure each batch is fully incorporating before adding the next.
2. preheat oven to 350 degrees F. butter and flour 2 round 8-inch cake pans. 
3. bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, cake bounces back after taping with finger
4. cool cakes 5 minutes, remove from pans by inverting onto a rack, let cool to room temp

Brown Butter Icing (Better Homes & Gardens) 

1/2 c butter

4 c sifted powdered sugar

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter until light brown color. Mix with sifted sugar, milk, vanilla. Add additional milk if needed. Ices two top sides of an 8-inch cake.