Buttery Yellow Cake

I have never found a recipe that quite beats this one. I love the nice, sweet vanilla taste this cake has. It's not like how some cakes have an overpowering flavor, or not enough flavor. Smaller cake slices are better because this cake is on the richer side. The secret to making a perfect cake is having your butter softened and eggs and milk at room temp. You can use any kind of frosting. My favorite is chocolate. Serves about 10-12
You will need:
1/2 Cup whole milk, room temperate
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 3/4 cups of cake flour (definitely use if you are a beginner)
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter cut into 16 pieces, softened

1.  Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8- or 9- round cake pans, then line the bottoms with non stick parchment paper. (I never put parchment paper in my pans for this recipe, but beginner's please do.) Whisk the milk, eggs, and vanilla in a small bowl. (If you have a 2 cup liquid measuring cup just crack your eggs and vanilla in there).
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the butter one piece at a time into flour mixture, until it resembles moist crumbs, 1 to 3 minutes.
3. Beat in all but 1/2 cup of the milk mixture, then increase mixer speed to medium and batter until smooth, light and fluffy, 1 to 3 minutes. Reduce mixer to low and slowly add the remaining milk mixture, until batter looks slightly curdled, 15 seconds.
4. Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure everything is combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans, smooth the tops, and gently tap the pans on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 20-25 minutes, rotating pans half way through.
5. Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes. Run a small knife around the edge of the cakes, and flip the cakes onto a wire rack. Cool for 2 hours before frosting.   If you have any questions please comment, and I'll try to answer them. Thanks!

From The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. Baking gurus wrote this!

I got a little crazy with my Duff Goldman cake graffiti cans!