I've found that the recipe below is closest to the one my Mom used to make & she made a mean yellow cake!

Here is a link that might be useful: Yellow Cake

Thanks Ginger - one more question. Can I use this as a base and add other ingredients (e.g. coconut, etc.) without affecting texture/cooking times, etc? I am trying to get the hang of this.

Thanks!

Depends on what you're adding. I've only made it as is.

This is a good cake. Its from Wilton

Basic Yellow Cake

* 3 cups sifted cake flour
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 3/4 cups sugar
* 2/3 cup butter or margarine
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
* 1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans and line with waxed paper or parchment paper. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Cream sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Fill and frost as desired.

Here is a link that might be useful: cake recipes

Thanks Rusty - I saw this after I tried the other one. I'll try it next.

Ginger - what the heck am I doing wrong?! The flavor on the cake was wonderful, but it was very dry - I followed the instructions to a T. Everything was at room temp, etc. What is it? Help!!!! (The frosting from that page is absolutely perfect BTW)

I have no idea because I like this cake because it's moist. Maybe you overbaked it or your oven temperature is higher than your dial says?

Maybe it was overbaked, but I did check it at 25 with a toothpick. It still needed 3 minutes. My oven is extremely accurate - I do know that. I made two bundt cakes over the weekend that were perfect. Maybe I overmixed it. I'll try it again because the flavor is exactly what I wanted.

It will continue to bake a little after you take it out so maybe just shorten the time by a couple minutes, maybe?

Wow - I didn't realize that. Thanks for the tip - I am determined to get it right.

I really like Hot Milk Cake. I don't recall who originally posted it years ago. It's versatile.

Okay Ginger - did it again because I'm stubborn and it was perfect. I love the flavor of this cake.
Oh - I've been wanting to make a Napoleon and was looking for a pastry cream to try out. I found a good one recommended from this site. I sliced the cake layers in half, filled with pastry cream and topped it with choc frosting. Yummmmm.

Oh, good. Glad you liked it & the pastry cream with this sounds great.