In praise of yellow cake

With my recipe for this beloved classic

The yellow layer cake, a classic!

I make a lot of cake. Especially these days, because there's just something so comforting about having a piece of cake at the ready when the news is especially depressing.

That said, the cake-on-the-counter tradition has always been strong in my house. When my grandmother, a serious baker, used to come and stay with us, there was often a fresh cake on the counter when I got home from school. It wasn't a fancy layer cake but a snacking cake baked in an 8×8 pan and topped with a generous coating of firm icing. It was often chocolate, but my favorite was the yellow cake.