Reggie Burrell's Perfect Cake Recipe

Long, long ago, in a city called Huntington Beach, there was a dinner theater called "Tibbie's Music Hall", which had a group of young performers called the "Young Americans" who would serve dinner and then do a show......twice a night!  It seems like just the other day that I worked there, but it was in the early 1980's (I'm not good with exact dates). One of those singers is Reggie Burrell. After Tibbies, Reggie went on to sing with Gladys Knight for many years, as well as traveling all over the world doing shows as a solo artist.

One of Reggie's hobbies, was cake making. OH....the cakes he would make. His decorating skills were spectacular! I mean, he was as good as it gets (still is) with his piping skills. (I have yet to master cake decorating, so I stick to the basics).

Here's a picture of Reggie and I from Tibbies (We are smack dab in the middle - Reggie is on my right).

Fast forward to the present. I have always been searching for a "go to" cake recipe and got this from Reggie. I have made it a couple of times now and it always turns out perfectly. I got the frosting from allrecipes.com. I'll post that link a bit later.

Reggie's Favorite Cake

Pre-heat oven to 350

Prepare 2 nine-inch cake pans with butter and flour. (I like to use parchment paper for easy removal! - put a little butter on the bottom of the pan so the paper round will stick, then butter the whole pan and flour, shaking out excess).

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter, softened to room temperature

2 C sugar

4 eggs (for white cake, omit yolks and add 2 TBL vegetable oil)

3 C flour (I used cake flour - be sure to read instructions on box for measuring changes)

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 C milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon or almond extract (optional)

In a mixing bowl, whip butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Mix dry ingredients together, and add alternately with milk to butter mixture, starting and ending with flour.

Add vanilla and flavors.

Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for 45-50 minutes or until tooth pick inserted into cake comes out dry.

Cool completely on racks.



Make sure the butter is really soft!






Into the baking pan!



Here's the deeeelicious frosting recipe! Click here for the frosting link!

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz) pkg of cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/2 C white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 C heavy cream

Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and almond extract in a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Then fit the mixer with the whisk attachment, and mix on medium until smooth. While the mixture is still whipping, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Stop and scrape the bowl a couple of times and continue whipping until the cream can hold a stiff peak.

Delicious results!! Thank you Reggie!