A LAYER CAKE AS EASY AS 1-2-3-4

This tweaked version of classic vanilla is lighter, more tender and less sweet

- By Melissa Clark

When James Beard published his family's recipe for 1-2-3-4 cake in Woman's Day magazine in the mid-1960s, he never expected the deluge of complaint letters that followed.

The recipe for the tender-crumbed vanilla layer cake was straightforward enough: 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour and four large eggs. But Beard's mother, as he wrote when he reprinted the recipe in American Cookery in 1972, went a little rogue, scanting the flour down to 2-3/4 cups. Beard's readers were not amused that she had changed the time-honoured recipe. Even though lodging a complaint meant finding an envelope, a stamp and actually mailing a letter (as opposed to the click-send of today), people took pains to make their indignation known.

Here's the thing, though: Beard's mother was just doing what savvy cooks have always done. Recipes with proportion names — like pound cake, which dates back to the 18th century — are really more like guidelines. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone today making pound cake with exactly a pound each of butter, eggs, flour and sugar.

The name is a helpful mnemonic, but bakers have been tinkering with the formula for generations. Beard himself added extra flour and a couple of tablespoons of liquid (rum, brandy or orange juice) to his pound cake recipe. And even Fannie Farmer bumped up the sugar for a beautifully crisp and golden top.

I kept all of this in mind when I set out to adapt my own version of the classic 1-2-3-4 cake. Like Beard, I cut back on the flour to get a light and fluffy crumb. I also dialled down the sugar — this was going to be a layer cake with a mocha buttercream frosting, and I didn't want it veering into cloying territory.