Basic Cake Recipe

This was the top once cooked.

This recipe is called Cottage Pudding in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, though I'm not sure why. It's just a regular old cake mix. The kind you'd make if you didn't want to buy a cake mix. I'd call this yellow cake, I guess, since it came out pretty yellow.

Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 400. Butter a shallow cake pan, 8X8, angel food cake pan, or cupcake tins.
sift together:
1 1/2 c. flour (*I use 1c. whole wheat and 1/2c. white because I don't like the doughy quality of things made with all white flour. Whole wheat gives it a bit of texture and flavor and it always tastes better to me. But I don't like to use all whole wheat, as it doesn't hold together as well and can be coarse).
2 tsp. baking powder (I used 1tsp. baking soda instead, since I don't like to use baking powder for health reasons)
1/2 tsp. salt (I always leave this out, as I'm very sensitive to the taste of salt in stuff and don't like salty cake)
1/2 c. sugar (I used xylitol)

Mix:
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 c. milk (I also added 1tbs. yogurt to activate the baking powder, or you can use buttermilk or milk that's slightly souring)
1/2 c. butter, melted
Stir into the flour mixture. Pour into pan. Bake until browning, 20-25 minutes. 

This can be used for lots of things--cobblers, upside down cakes, or any basic cakes. You can serve it with sauces, crushed or stewed fruits, pie fillings or toppings, etc. You can also add chocolate chips, or just about anything else to the batter. Possibilities are endless, since this is a basic cake. You could even do a confetti cake.