1 1/2 c Butter; at room temp

1 1/3 c Sugar

3 Eggs; at room temp

2 c White lily or cake flour

Plus 2 tb 2 ts Baking powder

1/2 ts Salt

3/4 c Milk

1 ts Vanilla

Chocolate icing See recipe Cream the butter until light and add the sugar slowly. One by one, add the eggs, beating well after each addition, until the whole mixture is fluffy. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the batter in 3 parts alternating with the milk added in 2 parts. Stir in

the vanilla extract and turn into the prepared pans. Bake in a 350 oven for 25 minutes, until the layers are golden adn pull away from the edges of the pans. Let cool about 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack. To ice, place a cooled layer on a serving plate. Cover with about one fifth of the Chocolate Icing. Place the second layer on top and spread it with another one fifth of the icing. Top with the third layer and use the remaining icing to cover the top and sides. if the icing does not spread evenly or smoothly, dip the blade of the icing knife in warm water as you ice the cake. SOURCE Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie (pg. 304) -----