Old Fashioned Cream Cake

A week or 2 ago, I came across this page in one of my 1950s vintage cookbooks. What it says is "C as in Cake....and in chocolate, coconut, cheese and cherry. A child's delight, and adult's dream, a dieter's secret vice. If a wife makes a good cake, she's a good wife; if a mother makes a good cake, she's a great mother. Little else is needed."
Well, if that's true, this super-simple, flavorful cake will make everyone even more certain you're a good wife or great mother. It came from the New York Times Heritage Cookbook I just bought. (What? You thought I wouldn't start cooking from it immediately?) The recipe claims to be from Massachusetts, although my dearly beloved says neither his Grammy nor his mother ever made anything like it. As for me, I wonder what's not to love about a cake with only 5 ingredients!

OLD FASHIONED CREAM CAKE

4 eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups self rising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400F. Beat the eggs and sugar until light, then beat in the vanilla. Add the flour and cream alternately. Beat until smooth, then turn into a 9" tube or Bundt pan. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 300F without opening the door, and bake another 30 minutes. Frost with Vanilla cream frosting (1/3 cup cream, whipped somewhat, 1 pound confectioner's sugar, 2 tsp vanilla extract beaten until smooth).

If you don't have self rising flour (and I never do), use 1-3/4 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, and 2-1/2 tsp baking powder instead. It works wonderfully.