Quick Yellow Cake

I know what you're thinking.  Didn't I just post another yellow from scratch cake recipe? Well, I just can't help it!  Now I don't exactly remember why I looked for another one, but I did.  It was just as good as the first, maybe a little better.  (I did not use vanilla pudding in this recipe, and instead of all purpose flour, I used 1 1/4 C white whole wheat flour, and 1 C +2 T cake flour.  I was afraid the whole wheat flour would make the cake too dense, so opted for cake flour to lighten it up a bit.  My name might suggest otherwise, but I'm not a baker.  So I'm not sure if it made any difference at all, but I felt better about it, anyway!)   I also used this to make cupcakes rather than a cake for Liam's birthday party.  They came out beautifully!  It comes from Full Bellies, Happy Kids.  She paired this with a chocolate frosting recipe, but we used a vanilla buttercream frosting recipe instead so that the kids could decorate their own and not have sensory overload on their tastebuds. 

2 1/4 C all purpose flour
1 1/3 C sugar
3 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 C shortening (butter!  You know how much I dislike shortening!)
1 C low fat milk
1 t vanilla
2 eggs

1. Combine dry ingredients in bowl of electric stand mixer.  Add butter, milk and vanilla.  Turn to low and mix about 1 minute.
2. Stop and scrape bowl.  Add eggs.  Continue on low, mix about 30 seconds.  Stop and scrape bowl.  Increase speed to medium and beat about 1 minute.
3. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 8- or 9- inch round baking pans.  Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes.  Remove from pans.  Cool completely on wire rack.  Frost if desired.

Note:  I'm not sure what made the difference, but this cake was definitely lighter in texture than the other from scratch recipe I tried.  I think I liked this one better, though I'd have to try the other recipe again using cake flour to see if it makes a difference.