Vanilla Cake

I do already have a vanilla cake recipe posted; but I'm always looking for the "best" cake recipe -- especially one that will bake and hold a good, tall crown when making cupcakes. Might not be what I'd want when baking a larger cake when a flatter, even surface is desirable. This one--a combination of a few different recipes I've tried--is fairly good (for crowning) even if not super tall; better than others I've tried that often come out of the oven with a nice dome, but tend to fall as they cool.
   These cupcakes (photo) I filled with some slightly thinned blackberry jam (blackberries grow in my field, so I have easy access to fresh berries every summer), frosted with blackberry-vanilla buttercream, and drizzled with blackberry syrup.

Ingredients
2½ C flour (cake flour is best)
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
¾ C butter, softened
1¾ C sugar
3 eggs, room temp is best
2 t vanilla
1½ C buttermilk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare muffin tins with paper liners (makes about 30); or...lightly coat 2 8-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment.

Sift together, flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and 1 C sugar until very pale yellow and fluffy. Beat in remaining sugar and eggs, scraping the bowl down frequently, until mixture is well blended, smooth and thick.

Mixing on low speed, add dry ingredients by thirds, alternating with buttermilk until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix again briefly.

Pour or scoop batter into prepared pans/muffin cups.

Bake cupcakes 22-24 minutes; 8-inch pans 40-45 minutes (tops should spring back when lightly pressed).