Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Mix in dry ingredients. Add flavoring.
Bake in greased tube pan at 325 degrees for an hour or longer as necessary.
The original recipe calls for 3, 4 or 5 eggs. My great grandmother would have used eggs gathered by my mother. I am assuming they were probably smaller than the modern large egg so I use three. If you decide to use more eggs, you should cut back the amount of milk used.
You can substitute buttermilk for the milk for more tang.
I remember my mother adding black walnuts when she made it. I hate black walnuts and they can be expensive and hard to find. Regular walnuts or pecan are an excellent substitute but they should be finely chopped. You can also add chocolate chips or coconut instead of nuts.