The Ricco Kitchen

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Today is, besides Veteran’s Day, my father’s birthday. Of course I had to make him a birthday cake, and I chose a family favorite: Jack and Jill cake. To be honest, I don’t think anyone knows where the name came from, but it is a delightful variation of a yellow pound cake. Topped with light icing and some powdered sugar, this cake is AWESOME with ice cream, fruit or whipped cream. I used a single recipe in a 9″ round cake pan. This cake is also great as a bundt cake, but use a double recipe. I’ve also made mini bundt cakes with this recipe.

Cake Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cup All Purpose White Flour
• 2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Corn Oil
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 2 Eggs (room temperature)
• 1/4 tsp Salt

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Icing Ingredients:

• 2 tbps Milk
• 1 cup Confectioner’s Sugar (amount depends on the consistency you want the icing, more sugar is thicker, less sugar is more runny)
• 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
• Juice from 1/2 Lemon

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Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Measure out the milk and set it aside.

Start by sifting the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl. I like to just bang the knife against the sifter. It’s noisy, but works.

In another bowl*, mix the oil, sugar and vanilla. (*If you are using a Kitchenaid Mixer, you can mix these ingredients in that bowl to save some dirty dishes. I used a separate bowl because it’s easier to photograph an open bowl.)

Make sure it is completely blended-I like to beat it together with a fork.

Add each egg, one at a time, mixing completely. Beat until the mixture is fluffy.

Now let’s regroup. We have 3 separate bowls- the milk, the sugar mixture, and the flour mixture. The next step is to add a ladle full of the flour mixture to the sugar (either in a big bowl or the kitchenaid) and mix.

Then, add a a ladle full of milk and blend.

Alternate, mixing in between, until all of your ingredients are mixed in.

The next step is to prepare the pan. For an easy, foolproof way to make sure your cake won’t stick to the pan, check out this tip.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan (either with the wax paper trick, by buttering and flouring, or your own method).

Bang the pan on the counter a few times to get all of the air bubbles out.

Put the pan in the oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until the outside is lightly browned and an inserted knife/toothpick comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, I prepare the icing. It’s so simple in theory, but finding the right consistency can be somewhat of a trial and error process. Start with 1/8 cup of milk in a small bowl.

Sift in some of your confectioner’s sugar and whisk quickly.

Add the almond extract and squeeze in the juice of a lemon half. It’s important to add these before you get to the perfect consistency because this liquid will make the icing runnier that you want if you add it at the end. Keep sifting in sugar until you are happy with the consistency. If you want the icing to be more solid instead of syrupy, add more sugar.

Look at the mess I made

Simply spoon the icing over the *COOLED* cake, sprinkle on some more confectioner’s sugar, and viola.

Happy eating!