Classic comfort cake – handed down for a reason.

I wanted to learn more about this storied cake recipe as soon as I heard that it was handed down from generation to generation. When The New York Times printed the recipe, they referred to it as Alice Waters’ recipe. It was included in her book The Art of Simple Food, published in 2007. I think it predates Alice Waters, but I was thrilled that such an esteemed chef used this recipe.

The name of the cake refers to the proportions of the four primary ingredients: one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, and four eggs. There are a few other ingredients like milk, baking powder and vanilla extract, but we won’t quibble.

Allrecipes.com sums up what is great about this recipe by saying that it is a very old and trusted recipe and most of the ingredients can be found in most pantries. When I was growing up, this recipe was also known as the birthday cake recipe because it was so easy. It also serves as a wonderful, moist vehicle for almost any frosting. The Wall Street Journal’s Jane Black reported in an article about this cake that the earliest known version she had found came from the 1994 book called Classic Home Desserts by Richard Saks. In many reviews of the various recipes, readers refer to this recipe as having come from their grandmother or even great-grandmother.

What everyone loves about this recipe is that the cake is soft and moist and makes your kitchen smell divine. It is also adaptable and can be topped with fruit and sifted confectioner’s sugar or slathered in a delicious buttercream frosting. It can be served as a pound cake for tea, a Bundt cake, a sheet pan (9” x 13”) cake, or a two- or three-layer cake.

Here is the basic recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups (370 grams) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups (384 grams) cake flour
1 tablespoon (12 grams) baking powder
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour 2 (9-inch) round cake pans. (You can use baking spray with flour.)
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
Pour batter into prepared pans (smoothing tops if necessary). Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 28 to 30 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool completely on wire racks.

Recipe from www.bakefromscratch.com

Adaptations you might want to try:

Some bakers separate their eggs and beat the yolks and whites separately, adding them to the batter at different stages. Here is the allrecipes.com recipe.

Some bakers use self-rising flour and eliminate baking powder. Paula Deen’s recipe is for 3 layers and uses self-rising flour.

This recipe is made in a Bundt cake pan and uses a glaze instead of a frosting. Recipe from The Spruce Eats. Here is their glaze recipe:

1/4 cup (2-ounces) unsalted butter, melted
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons milk, or cream

Some bakers use both vanilla extract and almond extract in the batter. This Swan’s Down Cake Flour ‘back of the box’ 1-2-3-4 Cake recipe is an example.

From Scratch Magazine

Photo from The Spruce Eats.

Baked as a pound cake, from the Swan’s Down Cake Flour company. It’s their most requested recipe.

Photo from www.thesouthernladycooks.com
As a sheet pan cake

Frosting ideas:

Classic Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar – sifted to remove clumps

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

Beat the butter: In the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for a couple minutes, or until smooth.

Gradually add in the sugar: Turn the mixer to low, and slowly add in the first 3 cups of sugar. Once incorporated, increase the speed to medium-low and mix until combined.

Add the vanilla and cream: With the mixer back on low, add in the liquid ingredients and mix until combined. Add more cream at the end if needed for the consistency you like.

Whip until creamy: Once everything is incorporated, mix on medium until smooth and creamy.

Add the remaining sugar: Decrease the speed of the mixer and add in the remaining 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar until the buttercream is as firm as you want it for your recipe. Turn the mixer back up and whip again until fluffy.

If made as is, it is a vanilla frosting. Take out the vanilla extract and add grated lemon or orange zest and you have a citrus frosting. Add melted chocolate and it’s a chocolate buttercream. It makes 2 ½ cups. Recipe from www.thekitchn.com.

Caramel Frosting

¹⁄₂ cup unsalted butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

¹⁄₄ cup milk

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Add brown sugar and milk. Bring to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar.
Remove from heat. Cool.
Beat confectioners’ sugar into milk mixture until smooth.
Recipe from Food.com.