Recipe by request

I put a picture of this classic family cake on my personal Facebook page and tagged lots of cousins. There were some wonderful comments and lots of "likes" so I am publishing the recipe here.

Burnett Plain Cake

—from the kitchen of Norma Anne Chattin by way of my Grandma Lizzie who claimed this recipe went further back than she did….

This is written the way she wrote it so it’s not in typical recipe fashion and that’s part of the charm.

Cream together:

·         1 cup butter

·         ½ cup Crisco shortening

·         3 cups sugar

Add:

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon baking powder

Alternately Add:

·         3 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 cup canned milk (not sweetened condensed but canned milk)

Add :

·         1 teaspoon vanilla

·         1 teaspoon other flavoring extract (mom likes lemon, I like almond, it’s also great with 2 teaspoons of REAL vanilla extract like Watkins)

Add one at a time:

·         5 large eggs

Beat really well and then beat it some more—the longer the better

Pour batter in to wax paper lined classic tube cake pan* and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cake will be golden brown.

Remove from pan before completely cool and store in airtight container.

*A note on the pan—our tube cake pans have been passed along for ages and are the kind with a removable bottom which is why you need the wax paper lining. Use just enough wax paper to keep batter from leaking. The “crust” on this cake is one of its most magnificent features and the wax paper doesn’t allow the crust to form as well.