Vanilla Cake

I realize it's not the best picture to show off the cake inside. I made this recently when my Shakespeare class had just finished reading The Tempest -- which is set on an island -- and we were celebrating. The recipe below is just a basic, vanilla cake recipe that lends itself to lots of flavor (and decorating!) options...

Ingredients:
1 C butter, softened
3 C flour
1 Tbls baking powder 
½ tsp salt
1¼ C sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1½ tsp vanilla
1¼ C whole milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.Line two 9" round cake pans with parchment paper and/or grease and flour the pans.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Reduce mixer speed and add eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly combined. Beat in vanilla; don't worry if the mixture separates a bit. Beat in flour, a cup at a time, alternating with the milk. Beat just until well combined.

Bake cakes 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pans on to wire racks to cool completely.