Friday Funday Simple Cake

Boxed cake mixes are great. Why mess with perfection when Pillsbury and Betty Crocker already did it best? Well it’s still a great idea to know how to make your own homemade cake. If nothing else, you can impress your friends with your newfound skill.

This week’s recipe is in honor of my birthday week. Here’s the cake I made from scratch for my birthday this year.

Easy Vanilla Cake

Ingredients:

Cake

• 1-1/2 cup butter
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting from scratch

• 1 cup butter
• 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Using your electric mixer, cream butter and sugar about a minute.
3. Add eggs, oil, milk and vanilla extract.
4. Gradually add in flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

For frosting:

1. Beat butter until smooth.
2. Add sugar and vanilla and beat for two minutes.

 Tips

• Let cake cook completely before frosting—at least a half hour.
• If baking cake in a pan, spray pan with oil cooking spray first.
• If the frosting is too watery, let it sit in the fridge for a half hour or add more powdered sugar.
• You can also use store bought frosting—hey you made a cake from scratch you did good enough!

Once you have a basic cake recipe down you can start experimenting with different flavors. I’ve added a cup of cocoa powder to this recipe as well as a half-cup of melted chocolate and it comes out as a great chocolate cake!

Get creative with your decorating! I added some pink food coloring to my frosting and topped each cupcake with a sprinkle of colored sugar.

Check back next Friday Funday for some chocolate and banana goodies!