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Vanilla Birthday Cake
Ingredients
For The Cake
  • 2 C. all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 t. salt
  • 2 t. baking powder
  • 4 large eggs room temperature
  • 2 C. granulated sugar
  • 1 T. vanilla extract
  • 1/8 t. almond extract
  • 1 C. milk
  • 4 T. butter cut into cubes
  • 1/3 C. vegetable oil I used Canola
For the Frosting
  • 8 T. unsalted butter room temperature
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 T. meringue powder optional--increases strength of the frosting
  • 1 t. vanilla extract
  • 3 C. confectioners' sugar
  • 2 to 4 T. milk
Instructions
For the cake
  1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Your oven rack should be positioned in the center of the oven. Prepare two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans by greasing them and lining the bottoms of the pans with parchment. Grease the top of the parchment, too.
  2. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
  3. Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and almond extract in the bowl of your stand mixer using the whisk attachment. Beat at medium high speed for about 2 minutes. You want the egg mixture to thicken and be light in color.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture. Mix just to combine at a low speed. Be sure to use a spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and then mix again briefly to be sure all the flour is incorporated into the batter.
  5. In a microwave or in a pan on the stove, heat the milk until it simmers. Remove the milk from the microwave (or from the heat on the stove) and stir in the butter and oil. Keep stirring the mixture until the butter has melted.
  6. Slowly mix the milk mixture into the egg/flour batter until everything is well combined. Be sure to scrape the bowl to be sure everything is combined.
  7. Pour batter into your two prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees F. for about 38-42 minutes if you are using 8-inch pans or 26-30 minutes if you are using 9-inch pans. Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the centers of the cakes. ( The toothpick should come out clean with no batter sticking to the toothpick. You can also check your cakes by using a digital thermometer inserted into the center of the cakes. The thermometer should read 205 degrees F is the cake is done.)
  8. Remove the cakes from the oven, run a knife around the edges to loosen the cakes from the pans and let the cakes cool on a rack for about 15 minutes. Once the cakes are cool, turn them out of the pans and transfer them to a rack to cool to room temperature before frosting.
For the Frosting
  1. Beat butter in the bowl of your stand mixer until it is fluffy.
  2. Add the salt, meringue powder (optional) and vanilla. Beat to combine.
  3. Add the confectioners' sugar and 2 T. of milk. Beat until the mixture is smooth, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl while you are mixing to be sure you have incorporated all the sugar.
  4. Add additional milk (or confectioners' sugar) to adjust the consistency of the frosting for easy icing and piping.