A very nice, fluffy, yolks-only cake from a 1933 cookbook I got from a friend earlier this year. This is the second thing I’ve made from the book, and both have turned out very well! I was a bit worried that the amount of lemon juice in the frosting would be too sour, but I was underestimating the amount of powdered sugar – plenty sweet, with a nice flavor!

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter or other shortening, room temperature (I used some vegan butter I wanted to get out of the fridge)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks, beaten until thick and lemon-colored
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar, divided
• dash of salt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water

In general with these old cookbooks, they have you sift the flour both before measuring, so it’s fluffy and not tightly packed in the measuring cup, and then to combine with other dry ingredients (in this case, the baking powder). Sometimes I do, this time I skipped – I kind of assume that they’ve had 90 years to figure out how to avoid clumping so it’s less important. If you don’t sift before measuring, though, just be cautious not to let your 2 cups get heaping, as you already may have a bit more flour than the recipe writer intended.

Grease an 8×8″ pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour with the baking powder and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the beaten egg yolks and beat well. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 of milk, beating after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

Spread in the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until the edges are browned and start to pull away from the walls of the pan. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the frosting, first beat together the zest and butter.

Beat in 1 cup of the powdered sugar and the salt. Beat in 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and the water, then another cup of powdered sugar. Add the remaining tablespoon of lemon juice, then beat in the final cup of powdered sugar, and frost your cake.

Economical Gold Cake with Luscious Lemon Frosting

Fractionally adapted from All About Home Baking.

Cake:

• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter or other shortening, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks, beaten until thick and lemon-colored
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar, divided
• dash of salt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water

Grease an 8×8″ pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour with the baking powder and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the beaten egg yolks and beat well. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 of milk, beating after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Spread in the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until the edges are browned and start to pull away from the walls of the pan. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the frosting, first beat together the zest and butter. Beat in 1 cup of the powdered sugar and the salt. Beat in 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and the water, then another cup of powdered sugar. Add the remaining tablespoon of lemon juice, then beat in the final cup of powdered sugar, and frost your cake.