Yellow Cake

I just made the most delicious yellow cake I think I have ever tasted! In my cooking class today, my lab partner and I had to do a ten-minute demo about altitude adjustments. Rexburg, ID has an approximate elevation of 5,000 feet, so we had to demonstrate the proper recipe changes. This morning we made a cake without the altitude changes, and it was dense and dry and crumbly and blah. But the cake we mixed in demo, with the altitude changes, was absolutely to DIE for! It was perfectly dense and moist, not too crumbly, and it had such a delicious flavor! It is probably the only yellow cake I've ever tasted that I didn't frosting with (ask anybody, that's big for me!). In case you're wondering, are some good altitude adjustments to follow in case you live at 3,000 feet or higher:

-Add about 1 TB flour
-Take out 1/8 tsp of baking powder/soda
-Take out 1 TB sugar
-Add about 2 TB of the liquid (milk, water, etc.)
-Increase baking temperature by 10-15 degrees

Now, here's the cake recipe. If yours turns out as good as mine did I think you may explode with joy! ;) The final measurements with altitude adjustments are in parenthesis.

Yellow Cake


Mix and sift together 3 times:
 3 C sifted cake flour (3 C + 1 TB)
 1 tsp salt
 2 1/2 tsp baking powder (2 3/8 tsp)

On medium speed in large bowl, soften:
  1 C shortening

Gradually add:
  1 1/2 C sugar (-1 TB)
  2 tsp vanilla

Mix for approximately 5 minutes. Add:
  4 egg yolks

And beat for 2 minutes. On low speed, gradually add dry ingredients, adding about a fourth and mixing for 1 minute, adding another fourth and mixing 1 minute, etc. Stir in:
  1 1/4 C + 2 TB milk (1 1/2 C)

Add and mix in:
 4 stiffly beaten egg whites

Pour into two greased 8" circle cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees (385-390)


I know this recipe is written really strangely, but I'm not the author. :) Also remember: don't make the altitude adjustments UNLESS you live at an altitude of 3,000 ft or higher. Enjoy!

P.S. Sorry about the lack of pics. I'll get better!