This rich, buttery, tender cake can be made into a layer cake and then smoothed with a creamy chocolate buttercream. It is so good. Preheat your oven to 350°F/180 °C, then grease or line an 8-inch round or rectangular baking pan.
Into a mixing bowl, sift in two and a third cups of all-purpose flour, a quarter cup of cornstarch, half a teaspoon of baking soda, one teaspoon of baking powder and half a teaspoon of salt.
Give that a good mix with a whisk until it’s all combined and set it aside. Add half a cup of room-temperature unsalted butter, half a cup of oil and one and two-thirds cups of white granulated sugar in another large bowl.
Using a hand or stand mixer on medium speed, cream the mixture for two minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Next, add two large eggs at room temperature, one at a time, while mixing on a low speed and mixing well between each addition.
You will then add three additional egg yolks, and you want to mix that on a low speed until well combined. The egg yolks will make the cake richer and add colour to the batter as well. and give the cake the signature yellow colour.
Once that is well mixed, add one and a quarter teaspoons of vanilla extract and one teaspoon of white vinegar, which will help achieve a softer and tender crumb.
Finish off by adding one and a quarter cups of room-temperature buttermilk. Mix that on a low to medium speed until well combined. To finish off the batter, add the pre-sifted dry ingredients from earlier and fold them in with a spatula until just combined.
You don’t want to overmix the batter, so just mix until you can’t see any more streaks of unmixed flour running through the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans, then level the tops and drop the pans slightly on the counter to remove any large air bubbles.
Bake in the preheated oven for 38 to 40 minutes. Once baked, remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on a wire rack.
At this point, you can serve the cakes plain with a cup of tea, or you can go further and let them completely cool, then layer them with chocolate frosting. Whichever way you choose to serve this cake, it will surely be a hit on your table.
Ingredients;
- 2⅓ cups (295 g/ 10.4Oz) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt – omit if using salted butter
- ½ cup (113 g/ 4Oz) unsalted butter – room temperature
- ½ cup (105 g/ 3.7Oz) unflavored vegetable oil – I use canola oil
- 1⅔ cups (332 g/ 11.7Oz) white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs – room temperature
- 3 large egg yolks – room temperature
- 1¼ tbsp vanilla extract/essence
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1¼ cups (285ml) buttermilk – room temperature
