Celebration Cake

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 11 egg yolks
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup scalded milk, cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Directions

1. 1

   Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. 2

   Grease and flour two 10" x 10" baking pans (or two deep 9" X 9" pans, or a large sheet pan - remember to adjust baking time).

3. 3

   Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

4. 4

   Cream egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy.

5. 5

   Add scalded milk and vanilla to egg yolk mixture.

6. 6

   Mix butter into egg yolk mixture.

7. 7

   Stir flour mixture into egg yolk mixture. Do not over beat.

8. 8

   Pour batter into pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

9. 9

   Allow cake to cool completely before removing from pans. Frost if desired.

10. 10

    Tip: To scald milk, heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan over low heat, stirring frequently. When bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan, and steam rises from the milk, it is scalded. Remove from heat and cool. Do not boil. (It may not actually be necessary to scald the milk - it was traditionally done to deactivate enzymes. These days pasteurization takes care of that).