Happy Birthday Cake

My friend Miranda emailed me about a wonderful but complicated cake she made "from scratch" for her DH for his birthday this week. Of course, lol, this is now the only cake he wants for his birthday forever! It reminded me of my little brother, who has always hated boxed cake mixes. I made this recipe for him when he was about 7 years old, and I had to make it every year until I moved away to go to college! The nice thing is, this is an easy recipe!

Ingredients:
1 c. butter - no substitutes
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour
1 cup milk
4 egg whites, beaten stiff with a dash of salt

Directions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and fluff and add the vanilla. Then add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition.
2. Measure the baking powder into the flour, and sift a little into the creamed mixture. Add the flour and milk alternately, beating as you do so (if you start and end with flour, I think there's a finer texture!)
3. Beat the cake batter until a few air bubbles show.
4. Fold in the egg whites. DO NOT BEAT THE BATTER ONCE THE EGG WHITES ARE FOLDED IN (sorry to yell, but if you over mix the batter, it comes out really dense and heavy - who needs that in a cake?!)
5. Pour into either a 9 x 13" rectangular pan or (3) 8-9" round layer cake pans.
6. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350. Test with a toothpick.