Plain Cake

Also known as 1-2-3-4 Cake

  • 1 cup butter or oleo-margarine (vegetable oil in sticks), softened to room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 cups flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking Powder (remember Baking Powder comes in a can, baking soda comes in a box and can also be used as air freshener in your refrigerator.  They cannot be substituted for each other.)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla

Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.  To “cream” ingredients, blend the softened butter and the sugar at medium to high speed until you have a  thick,  grainy paste.

Sift the flour and baking powder together.  If you don’t have a sifter, blend the flour and baking powder together thoroughly with a spatula in a large bowl.

Crack all four eggs and mix with a fork.  Add the milk and vanilla to the eggs.

Alternate adding the flour mixture  and the milk mixture to the creamed sugar and butter.  Add 1/2 cup or 1 cup of the dry mixture and mix well, then add 1/4 or 1/2 cup of the liquids mixture.  Keep alternating and adding all the dry and liquid ingredients and mixing with the beaters until you have a light but thick cake batter.

Spoon the cake batter into a large cake pan or lasagna pan (9 x 13 inches).  Bake at 350°F for about 45 minutes.  Insert a toothpick into the thickest part of the center of the cake at about 35 minutes.  If anything is sticking to the toothpick, you need to keep baking the cake.  Test again at 40 minutes, 45 minutes, and so on until the toothpick comes out clean.  When the cake is finished baking, cool for 15-20 minutes before slicing.

You can use this plain cake in a lot of ways.

  1. Serve slices of it as a shortcake with sliced fruit (strawberries or peaches) and Cool Whip.
  2. Ice the whole top of the cake with one tub of Betty Crocker frosting (chocolate, strawberry, lemon, or another flavor)
  3. Make Tres Leches!
  4. Breakfast Cake: sprinkle the top of the cake with cinnamon sugar as soon as you take it out of the oven.  Cinnamon Sugar: mix 1/4 cup sugar with 1 or 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon.  Stir 25 strokes or shake together in a Ziploc bag to make sure the cinnamon and sugar are thoroughly mixed together.  This cake can last about 1 week on the counter without refrigeration if you only top it with the cinnamon sugar.

Tres Leches Cake

To turn this cake into a Tres Leches Cake (Three Milks Cake), after the cake has baked in a large pan (9×13), allow it to cool to room temperature and then poke holes all over it with a chopstick or make a lot of “flat” holes by sticking a regular eating knife into it.  The holes allow the milks to seep into the cake so the liquids don’t sit on top of the cooked layer, making it a soggy mess.  The more holes you have in your cake, the more consistent the texture and flavor will be.

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2/3 to 3/4 cup Pet Evaporated Milk (a little more than 1/2 of a 12-oz can)
  • 2/3 to 3/4 cup Borden Condensed Evaporated Milk (a little more than 1/2 of a 14-oz can)
  • 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream (optional)
  • 4 Tablespoons powdered sugar (optional)

Combine the whole milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk and pour over the top of the cooled cake. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours before serving.  This is a great “make ahead” cake because it tastes even better if you allow the milks to soak in overnight.  You can serve this cake after refrigerating it 2-4 hours, or you can make it look fancy by adding whipped cream topping.

Adding the whipped cream? Put your mixing bowl and mix-master beaters in the freezer to chill them, then just before serving, mix the heavy whipping cream at high speed.  After 1 minute of whipping, add in 4 Tablespoons of powdered sugar.  Continue  whipping until the cream is thick and smooth. Spread over top of cake with a spatula.  Don’t add the whipped cream until you are ready to serve because it doesn’t store well.