Lady Cake

Lady Cake

Makes 8 to 12 servings

An absolutely perfect yellow cake. Ready for a scoop of ice cream.

This rich, buttery cake needs nothing more than a dusting of powdered sugar, with perhaps a pile of fresh fruit on the side. Or top with some White Chocolate Glaze. Or split and fill it with ½ cup Blackberry Jam or one of the other jams. And, of course, it goes well with a scoop of ice cream.

You can use regular cake flour, Bob’s Red Mill wheat pastry flour, cornstarch, or gluten-free flour. The wheat flour is a little earthier, with a little more tooth. Cornstarch produces a killer fine texture, with tiny little holes in the crumb and a caramelized flakiness on top.

• 1 cup cake flour (not self-rising), wheat pastry flour, cornstarch, or gluten-free flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 6 tablespoons ( ¾ stick) unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup sour cream or buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan. Line with a round of parchment and butter the paper. Dust with flour and shake out the excess.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt twice. Set aside. Combine the butter and sugar in a medium bowl and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until thick and pale, about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add 1 egg and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Add the second egg and the vanilla and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat the batter until smooth.
3. Add about one-third of the flour mixture and fold in gently with a rubber spatula. Fold in about half of the sour cream. Add another one-third of the flour mixture and fold it in, then fold in the remaining sour cream, and finally fold in the rest of the flour. Do not overmix.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto a rack, remove the parchment, and let cool completely.

Beet Lady Cake

• Mix 1 cup ground red beets with the sour cream and fold it into the flour mixture.

Zucchini Lady Cake

• Shred 1 medium zucchini on a grater (about 1 cup). Squeeze the zucchini through cheesecloth until most of the water is gone. Meanwhile, proceed as directed, adding ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon to the flour mixture. Mix the zucchini with the sour cream before folding it into the flour mixture.