Much like pound cake, the 1-2-3-4 cake gets its name from the proportions of its base ingredients: one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs. It’s so straightforward, you may not even have to write it down—making it easy to impress friends and family with, oh, just a little something you whipped up.
Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake
5 from 3 votes
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.
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