A Piece of Cake - Simple Butter Cake 简单奶油蛋糕

If you are looking for a simple butter cake recipe that is rich, moist and virtually melts in your mouth, go no further. A plain butter cake is what it is - a butter cake. But a good butter cake will give you absolute satisfaction with its rich buttery taste and soft texture complete with that pretty golden brown crust. Yes, that is my type of cake. When you take a bite, it should feel silky soft and dissolves in your mouth like a piece of gelatin.  No syrup is necessary to make the butter cake moist for the cake itself should hold enough moisture (or fats). Ahhh....writing about this already makes me drool.

Have you experienced a day whereby you crave so much for something but can't have it? This is one of those days. My mind has been preoccupied with something sweet and this butter cake seems to swim around my head like an annoying lalat (fly). But I can't have it as I am trying hard to keep the pounds off (then again, I have been trying for the past 2 years already). Lets not digress...I can't have it but I vow to share this absolutely delectable piece of plain Jane with you. Do me this favour and eat my share. Please....

It is always a rule to me that when you make an easy recipe, you have to get it right. So I am going to divulge to you a whole list of things that matters:

Flour

I use superfine flour/cake flour. It does make a difference in texture. Cake flour is fine-textured and low protein. This gives the end product finer crumbs and a softer bite. Therefore, I do not usually use self-raising flour.

Butter

Who would have thought that this ingredient actually matters most. Always use a good butter to do a butter cake. After all, it is the main ingredient. I have tried a few types and here are the results:

1. SCS (RM11) - I find it has too much of that buttery smell (酥味).
2. Lurpack (RM14) - the most pricey of the lot. Good butter but a tad too expensive.
3. Golden Churn (RM11) - very suitable as it has just the right texture and buttery taste. No excessive smell.
4. Anchor (RM9)  - perfect if you are cost conscious. It does not have a strong buttery taste and has a nice subtle flavour (acceptable for me). In order to get a more intense butter flavour, I use half Anchor and half SCS for this recipe.

Eggs

Use large eggs (Grade A) at room temperature. Eggs are best for whisking and hold a greater volume of air if it is a little less fresh, about a couple of days old (Surprised? I just got to know this myself).

Method

I used the creaming (butter and sugar creamed together) method as it is the most suitable method for high fat content cakes. But I also added egg separation method to give this cake an additional "boost" to make it fluffier.

Simple Butter Cake Recipe

Ingredients

3 large eggs, room temperature
200 g butter, room temperature
200g cake flour
130 g and 50 g castor sugar
1/4 cup yogurt, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
11/2  tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Cooking Instruction

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Grease and flour a 9 X 5 in loaf pan. Alternatively, line loaf pan with baking paper. Separate egg whites from egg yolks.

2. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together.  Whisk egg whites until frothy. Add in 50 g of sugar and continue to whisk until almost stiff peak. Cream butter in slow speed. Add remaining 130g sugar and gradually increase the speed. Cream until pale and creamy.

3. Add egg yolks one at a time. Whisk well after each addition. Lastly, add in vanilla extract.

4. Fold in 1/3 of the flour and then 1/3 of the yogurt. Alternate until all has been combined.

5. Gently fold in 1/2 the egg whites and then another 1/2. Do not overmix.

6. Pour batter into loaf pan and level with a spatula. Drop the pan a few times to remove trapped bubbles.

7. Put into middle rack and bake for 40-45 minutes. Skewer should come out clean when inserted in the middle. Remove and let cool in rack.