A simple cake without a lot of fuss, much like other 1-2-3-4 cakes are. You can pour the batter into three separate cake pans as indicated in the recipe, or pour it into one cake pan and slice it after baking. Just adjust the baking times if you do. Either way, the result is the same.

1-2-3-4 Cake

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup butter, unsalted and softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line with parchment paper 3 9inch cake pans. Spray over the parchment paper.
2. Combine flour and baking powder together in a bowl. Beat butter and sugar in a separate bowl until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. At low speed, alternate the flour and milk, then add in the vanilla. Divide evenly into prepared pans. Bake until the cake testes clean, about 20 to 25 minutes (will be longer if you are using only one cake pan). Cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then turn them onto cooling racks.
3. When cool, trim cakes if necessary, then stack and frost with icing.

Notes

This cake goes great with a caramel or a chocolate icing.

Content by Renee Shelton. Recipe adapted from Family Circle, 5-16-95. This recipe was first published on PastrySampler.com on January 10, 2007. It was updated on September 29, 2020.