Ingredients:

2 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prep a deep, round cake pan by cutting a piece of baking parchment or wax paper to fit the bottom. Grease and flour the pan.

Important! Don't start mixing the batter until your oven is hot and ready to go. If you let the batter set too long after you mix it, you loose the baking powder action and your cake won't rise as much.

With whisk, beat eggs. Add sugar, whisk until light yellow. Add melted butter, blend very well. Whisk in baking powder, salt, and vanilla. Whisk in the milk. Gently whisk in the flour, mixing until it just comes together. Small lumps are o.k., the trick here is not to over mix it -- if you do, you will have a tough cake.

Variation for pineapple upside-down cake:
Melt 1/4 cup butter in the bottom of a large cast-iron skillet. Mix in 1 cup brown sugar. Press the butter-sugar mixture into the bottom of the skillet. Arrange canned pineapple slices on top of the sugar. Sometimes I've seen poor pineapple cakes with marischino cherries in the center of every pineapple ring. Do this only if you must. I prefer to cut the pineapple rings in half and place them closer together. Top with yellow cake batter. Put the skillet in the oven on top of a piece of foil in case the sugar boils over the edges. Bake 30-40 minutes (sometimes it takes even longer in our oven -- don't worry, just keep it baking until it passes the toothpick test). Cool 10 minutes. Invert onto cake plate. This cake tastes best when served warm.

Variation for white cake:
Prepare as for yellow cake except use 3 egg whites for the 2 whole eggs. For a lighter cake, two of the whites may be beaten separately into soft peaks, then folded into the rest of the batter after the flour is added.

Variation for chocolate cake:
Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder before adding the milk.

Variation for spice cake:
Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon allspice.