Steve MacPike
I omit the salt, sugar, and use baking soda, vanilla extract, and buttermilk instead of milk. Lightly beat the egg before mixing it with the rest of the wet ingredients together. Otherwise the cakes could turn out a bit rubbery. Homemade buttermilk using heavy cream and vinegar or lemon juice works just as well. I also add a small pinch of yeast to help ensure rising of the cakes and it works every time.. A helpful tip to this recipe is to mix all the dry ingredients together separately from the wet ones and then combine them all together. BTW, the recipe w/o salt, sugar, milk, and yeast has been in my family for decades. I only altered it by adding a bit of yeast because I wasn't always having consistent results with just baking soda and baking powder. Now it’s never-fail results.