I've made this cake 9-10 times and only came here to print off a clean copy. I'm shocked by the low reviews and problems reported because this comes out for me every time as high, fluffy, moist, and delicious. If you substitute butter for the shortening, you'll have the cake that made the Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich Village famous.

Very delicious. I've been looking for a good recipe using all-purpose flour (instead of cake flour) and this is it. I used the exact ingredients but increased the recipe to fill an 11x15 pan. I got a little nervous when the middle didn't crown but it was fully cooked, I didn't have to level it off and the texture was better than I expected. Thanks!! ** Revision ** I made this for the 2nd time today and the finished texture was very light and fluffy! Thorougly creaming the shortening & sugar is definitely the answer. I didn't have enough shortening so I ended up using 50/50 shortening/butter, which I beat together for a few minutes before adding the sugar. The creamed mixture should look silky and light, sort of like whipped butter. After I added the last of the milk, I turned the mixer speed up a little (one setting above "stir") and beat for about 30 sec. The batter looked smoother this time and had a nice body to it, not runny as with some box mixes. This recipe does work and will be my only yellow cake from now on. Thanks SO MUCH!

Perfect, just as I was hoping it would be when I saw that this recipe called for shortening rather than butter. The little bit of butter flavor that's sacrificed is more than made up for by the fact that you gain incredible moistness, since butter cakes can have a tendency to be dry. I'm sure the recipe is perfect as is, but for added richness, moistness and color I added two more egg yolks. For the lightest texture, be sure to cream the shortening and sugar very well, 2-3 minutes if using a stand mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. When adding the flour mixture with the milk, begin and end with the flour. Thanks for posting the recipe - I couldn't have been more pleased!

FOR ANY ONE THAT GAVE THIS RECIPE 4STARS OR LESS. USE TWO STICKS OF BUTTER INSTEAD OF SHORTENING. USE CAKE FLOUR AND SIFT OR USE WHITE LILLIE FLOUR AND SIFT TWICE,AND OYU WILL HAVE THE BEST CAKE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is an 'award winning' recipe! I've been making it for the past 2 year and this summer entered a cake in the local fair. There was enough batter in one recipe to make 3 short 8" round layers, I used coconut flavoring instead of vanilla and homemade buttercream. I won first place and best of show, one of the judges wrote on my tag that it was one of the best cakes she had ever eaten!

I did not have a box of yellow cake mix, so decided to try this as I had the ingredients on hand. Not very impressed with this recipe at all. It seems to have too much sugar, as it doesn't rise well and then the sugar caramelizes and forms a hard crust on the out side. The texture was dry and crumbly and did taste a little like cornbread, but not even good tasting cornbread. I felt bad to waste my home made raspberry buttercream on this cake, but that was the only thing that made it edible for my hubby and kids. It is still sitting on the counter being ignored. If you want moist and yummy yellow cake, use 1 box of yellow cake mix and add all called for ingredients, then add an additional egg + a 3.9 oz. box of jello instant pudding. That is a yellow cake worth eating!

This is the perfect basic yellow cake recipe. Light and fluffy, yet moist. It has excellent flavor (I did use the 1/2 shortening-1/2 butter suggestion). I don't understand how people get the cornbread taste or texture. However, be sure to really cream the shortening and sugar VERY well-this can have a huge effect on the end result and really mix all the ingedients thoroughly if you want to right texture (I use a Kitchen Aid stand mixer). This is now my base cake for my mom's favorite Hawaiian cake!! Thanks for sharing this recipe with all of us!!

Finally the moist cake I've been looking for-I used all butter and made my own chocolate icing.Great.In fairness if you are not used to making scratch cakes,give a few times to perfect your technique here. You can't expect to have your first scratch cake come out great and must follow directions.Ingredients act differently if not done according to directions. It's a keeper and am adding a pic. Will say though it was hard to get out of greased pan, will use parchment on bottom next time.

This is the first time I have ever made a cake w/o using a box. I did however read over other recipes and made a few adjustments to this one and it turned out better than I anticipated. First I used 1/2 cup shortning and 1/2 cup butter. I also used 3tsps of vanilla and only 2 1/2 tsps of baking powder. Everything else stayed the same. I would recommend this recipe to both new cake makers and seasoned makers.

Delicious cake!!! Used butter instead of shortening.