Plain Layer Cake

The book gives proportions only, with no method, pan size or oven heat. The proportions are sound; everything else has to be supplied.

• Mixing orderCream the butter with the sugar, beat in the egg and vanilla, then add the flour sifted with the baking powder alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour. Mix only until the last streaks of flour disappear.
• Oven350F is a reasonable choice for a cake of these proportions. The recipe itself gives no oven heat, and the term 'moderate oven' does not appear here.
• Pans and timeThe batter fills two 8-inch round pans, greased and floured, and bakes in about 20 to 25 minutes, until the centre springs back. In a single 8-inch square pan allow 30 to 35 minutes.
• A cupfulTake it as 8 fluid ounces. Flour was measured by volume, not weighed, so two cupfuls comes out anywhere from about 230 to 280 g depending on how the cup is filled; spoon the flour into the cup and level it off rather than packing it, or the cake turns dry.
• One tablespoonful of butterThat is genuinely all the fat, about 14 g. This is a lean, plain cake in the one-egg tradition, not a modern butter cake. It stales quickly and is best eaten the day it is made.
• Baking powderTwo teaspoonfuls to two cupfuls of flour is within the normal modern range. Some double-acting powders can leave a faint metallic taste; a scant two teaspoonfuls gives a cleaner flavour if yours does.
• It needs a fillingTwo thin layers sandwiched with something: jam, lemon curd, a boiled sugar icing or sweetened whipped cream. The cake itself carries almost no fat, so the filling does the work.
• YieldTwo thin layers, cutting into eight to ten slices.