Basic Whip-It-Up Fast Yellow Cake

From the 1950's Edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook:

This is a good solid whole-egg cake. You can also make it with low-fat milk and egg substitutes. A "solid" cake - not like the cake-mix cakes.

Creaming method for a Yellow Cake

13x9" oblong or 2 9" round layer cake pans - grease and flour

Cream together (beat with a hand mixer for 2 minutes or longer as required) 1/3 Cup Crisco and 1/3 Cup butter (regular) with 1 1/2 Cups white sugar. The shortening should be well mixed into the sugar, no lumps; scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl (a large deep one) as you go. Light and fluffy should be the result. Butter should be softened before using - hard from the 'fridge won't work. But don't melt it to oblivion in the microwave.

Beat in three large eggs. Again, scrape down the sides as you go, beat in throughly. [You can use whole-egg substitutes.]

Mix together (either sift together or use one of those mixing/slicing/chopping machines to mix the dry ingrediants and fluff them up. 2 1/4 Cups Gold Medal flour. 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure it isn't more than 3 months old - if it is, replace it). 1 teaspoon salt. I use iodized salt.

Mix together 1 1/2 Cup regular milk (or low fat; if fat-free, use 1 tablespoon Canola oil with it.) 1 1/2 teaspon vanilla. Canola oil helps lower bad cholesterol.

Alternately add the dry and wet ingrediants to the egg-butter-sugar mixture, beating in well. Mixture will be a little thin and should be lump-free.

Pour into the pan(s). Bake at 350 degrees 25-40 minutes until cake tests done (a toothpick struck into the center pull out dry). Touching the top of a done cake should not leave an imprint. Overdone, it will be shrinking and pulling away from the edges.

A delux version of this cake is made by reducing to 2 Cups of flour and 3/4 Cups milk

Put confectioner's sugar through a sieve over the top of the cake. Or, frost with a lemon or an orange frosting. Confectioner's sugar dusted on the top of a cake can be messy with small children and teenagers..

A creamy chocolate frosting (right out of a plastic tub) works just fine too. Icing takes time and is touchy and can be messed up so easily that for day-to-day cakes, premade frosting works just fine.