ByMrs. Shecky's Blog

~1-2-3-4 Cake~

I have been watching The Great British Baking Show for some time and now the American version of it. Even though I am far afield from those contestants, the series have put a bug in me to get baking and try some of those Masterclass recipes. After trying the Masterclass jelly roll and cracking it (failed), I decided to go to my tried and true recipes. Yup, I got my basic on but will attack another one of those in the future just because I like baking torture, and the crumbs aren’t so bad either.

But, this recipe has been around forever in Mrs. Shecky’s Kitchen and I hadn’t made it in awhile. I concocted up some lemon curd a couple of days ago so I thought this cake would handle the consistency of the curd for the filling. It does. The 1-2-3-4 Cake is a denser cake so jam & jelly on this works well. This recipe is also sweeter and you can cut that sugar down a tad if you think it is too much for your taste.

1-2-3-4 CAKE RECIPE

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes Cook Time 20 minutes

Equipment

  • Mixer
  • 3 – 9″ round cake pans

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 C Butter 2 sticks
  • 2 C Sugar
  • 3 C Flour
  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 1 C Milk
  • 1 Tbs Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract Or any flavoring you like

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 350.
  • Prep 3 – 9″ round cake pans. Butter or use baking spray and line the bottom of pans with parchment paper.
  • Sift Together: all dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, salt then set aside.
  • Beat With A Mixer: Butter and Sugar until light and creamy, then add the eggs one at a time until all is well blended.
  • Add: Dry Ingredients to the butter and alternate mixing in the dry ingredients and the milk so all can be evenly blended. Do not overmix.
  • Add the vanilla and blend in.
  • Divide the batter between the 3 prepared pans and get to baking it at 350 for approximately 20 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. *See note on how I baked it below.
  • Let cool, then frost with what you choose. Even some whipped cream with berries would be fine on this since it is a denser cake. °

Notes

*I find this batter to be thicker than a normal cake batter so divide equally among the pans.  This will work out just fine after layering them.This is a recipe that has been around forever and it is a bit more dense than today’s cakes.  It is easy to frost and fill and holds up fine in an airtight container for a couple of days if it lasts that long. 

Babble & Tips:

I whipped up a lemon buttercream frosting to make a dam for my lemon curd. It worked out well. I’ll post my lemon curd recipe in a later post. That is another easy peasy one.

Remember the pan you are using. I had to use one pan that was different from the two and it was a ‘darker’ pan – it baked up faster so it crisped up a bit on the top and sides. Still edible and quite frankly, I liked it, but indeed was overcooked as a “cake” (see the bottom one).

*The other thing I neglected to do was put the cake pan strips on. I went to pull them out and then totally forgot about them. Without moist cake pan strips, the outside of the cake pan cooks faster and gives the cake the brown color you see in the photos. It tasted great, but if you have cake pan strips, use them, I think they make a big difference. Just remember, if you are at home and not out to impress, you will do just fine without the pan strips and you can actually make them.

*Watch the timer... I had my oven on 330 which I do often when baking because I like a slow bake to make sure it is evenly baked. This works well with the moistened cake pan strips. That’s just something I learned to do a long time ago. Some ovens vary in temp as most already know, but the standard temp for this is 350 and about 19-20 minutes. Mine was baked at 330 and done in about 22 minutes (hope that isn’t too confusing).

With the lemon curd the cake turned out very sweet, but was great with a cup of Joe and its bitterness.

 I love the look of a professional cake baker’s work. I used to bake for extra bucks at a time long long ago, however when I put those tools away I embraced the ‘homemade-like Grandma” look. For some reason, it also tastes better too. So on this blog you will probably only see that old fashioned Mrs. Shecky appeal from her own kitchen.

1-2-3-4 Cake
A very simple butter cake

So, there is my first post of a simple recipe that works for me every time.

Thanks for stopping in to Mrs. Shecky’s Kitchen.

Enjoy,

Mrs. Shecky

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