You won’t find a better from-scratch, yellow cake recipe than this. It is also known as the One-Two-Three-Four Cake, which is a very, very old recipe. 1-2-3-4 = one cup of shortening, 2 cups sugar, three cups flour and four eggs. But we still like to call it Grandma’s Buttermilk Yellow Cake.
Description
How to make a 1-2-3-4 Cake, make as a layer cake, in a tube pan or as muffins.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Crisco or other good shortening
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs (at room temperature)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 3 9-inch cake pans, a 10-inch tube pan, muffin tins or an 11×17-inch sheet cake pan.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mace. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer, cream the shortening and sugar for 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Beginning and ending with dry ingredients, add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk and vanilla. Pour into the prepared pan.
- For cake pans: Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire racks to finish cooling.
- Makes 12 servings.
Notes
In the above photo for this cake, we also used Pineapple Filling, a delicious addition to this cake, and the always dependable, always delicious Cream Cheese Frosting. The serving dishes in our photograph are Fiesta dinnerware.
For Tube Pan: Bake at 350°F for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Check at 1 hour with wooden pick or cake tester. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire rack to finish cooling.
For Cupcakes: Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes in greased muffin tins or paper liners in muffin tins, filling half full. Makes approximately two and a half dozen cupcakes.
For Sheet Cake: Pour into greased and floured 17×11-1/2×2-1/4-inch pan. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
In the above photo for this cake, we also used Pineapple Filling, a delicious addition to this cake, and the always dependable, always delicious Cream Cheese Frosting. The serving dishes in our photograph are Fiesta dinnerware.
For Tube Pan: Bake at 350°F for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Check at 1 hour with wooden pick or cake tester. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire rack to finish cooling.
For Cupcakes: Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes in greased muffin tins or paper liners in muffin tins, filling half full. Makes approximately two and a half dozen cupcakes.
For Sheet Cake: Pour into greased and floured 17×11-1/2×2-1/4-inch pan. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Kitchen Tools You’ll Need
More Cake Recipes
- Red Velvet Cake and the Great Neiman Marcus Cookie Hoax
- Texas Sheet Cake: Hospitality in a Cake
- Dr Pepper Chocolate Cake
- Favorite Chocolate Layer Cake