The recipe is easy and the cake is yummy. 5 out 5, would recommend.
I discovered this recipe on Cup of Jo. It looked like it was pretty hard to mess up, so I thought I'd give it a try.
The truth is, I went running for the first time in months, and that night, to reward myself, I enjoyed a warm slice of this cake under Ben and Jerry's Salted Caramel ice cream. So, I still have a ways to go on the dieting front.
Anyway, the recipe was easy, and the cake is yummy. Definitely recommend, especially if you need something homemade, but don't have a lot of time.
1 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for dusting the pan 3 eggs, warmed slightly 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (you can substitute an equal amount of vanilla extract) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup flour 14 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment, grease the sides and base and dust it with granulated sugar. Set aside.
If your eggs are cold, place them in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. Having your eggs warmed will help with the next step of beating lots of air into them.
In a stand mixer or large bowl with hand-held electric mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar for 4 to 5 minutes. The mixture should be pale and almost doubled in size. When you lift up your beater, the mixture should fall in thick ribbons.
Add the vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract and salt. Mix gently.
Sift the flour over the egg mixture. Using a spatula, gently fold the flour into the batter until no streaks remain. You want to be careful not to deflate all that air you just spent time beating into the eggs and sugar.
Add the melted butter to the batter and fold gently but thoroughly using a spatula until the batter is well-mixed.
Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The cake should start to pull away from the sides. It will puff up considerably in the oven, but will deflate a bit once you take it out, which is fine.
Run a knife around the edges of the pan and let the cake cool for 5 minutes. Turn it out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.