Just like there are many kinds of Cheesecakes, there are just as many kinds of butter cakes.
This butter cake is moist, it holds its crumb and it tastes of butter and vanilla extract – the real stuff. No artificial butter flavour, no taste of synthetic vanilla essence, no cake enhancers added. It is an easy cake recipe. How well it turns out depends on the quality of the butter and vanilla extract. Use a rich tasting butter and your cake will smell and taste of buttery goodness. What enhances the flavour of butter? Vanilla.
Real vanilla. Not vanilla essence which is synthetically made but vanilla extract which as its name implies is the extract of vanilla. Do not use those little sachets labelled as “Vanilla Sugar”. Those too are artificially flavoured. In my recipe, I offer two options when it comes to vanilla.
This butter cake will taste as good as it possibly can if you use a Homemade Vanilla Sugar (click link for recipe). Below is a quick run through of the sugar recipe.
It can be as uncomplicated as putting in a vanilla bean into an ~1 lb (1/2 kg) canister of caster sugar and letting it sit for a week and longer before using. Open up the canister thereafter and you get a dreamy scent of heady vanilla sugar. But you can make it even better!
To get the best canister of Vanilla Sugar, split open 2 or 3 vanilla pods (more is better here, I often use 6). Scrape off the lovely gooey paste into ~2.2 lbs (1kg) of caster sugar. Whizz that up in a food processor until the gooey paste is well mixed in. Transfer into glass canister, throw in the split pods as there’s still plenty of aroma there and use straight away or it can be stored indefinitely. It smells and taste even better with keeping.
Butter Loaf Cake
| Prep: | ~20 minutes |
| Cook: | ~45 minutes |
| Inactive: | Cake needs to cool before slicing |
| Level: | Easy |
| Makes: | 1 (7.87″ x 2.95″)(20 x 7.5)cm loaf |
| Oven Temperature: | 300F (150C) middle shelf |
| Can recipe be doubled? | – |
| Make ahead?- | Best freshly baked but it will keep up to 3 days. |
Ingredients1 cup=250ml=8.45 US fl oz 5.29oz (150g) salted butter (best quality) |
Method
Preheat oven & adjust oven rack
1. 300F (150C). Oven rack adjusted to middle shelf.
Line baking loaf pan
1. Line pan with parchment paper.
Prep batter ingredients
1. Ingredients should be at room temperature before starting. Using ingredients that is cold would affect the final texture of the cake.
2. Butter should be soft but not ‘melty’. When you press on it, there should be an easy but still firm give. Place it into the mixing bowl with the sugar. Set aside. If the butter should become too soft, return it to the refrigerator to firm up a little.
3. Sift salt into either the self-raising flour OR all-purpose/plain flour (+ 1.5 teaspoons baking power). Set aside.
4. Measure out the 4 Tablespoons yogurt. Have measuring spoon nearby to measure out the vanilla extract.
5. Lightly beat eggs. Set aside.
Cream butter & sugar
1. Cream butter & sugar on medium power until light and fluffy. I use my KitchenAid, Dial 5 and it takes ~3 minutes.
2. To ensure even mixing, midway through creaming process, turn off machine and scrape sides and bottom of the bowl.
Add eggs
1. Turn power down to low-medium and gradually add in 1/2 of the eggs. Let machine run for 1 minute. Turn off machine and scrape sides and bottom of the bowl.
2. Turn power back on to low-medium and carry out the same process with the remaining eggs.
3. Turn off the machine.
Add yogurt and vanilla extract
1. Add yogurt.
2. If you are using Homemade Vanilla Sugar, add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. If not, add 1 Tablespoon.
3. Let machine run ~1- 2 minutes to mix well.
4. Turn off machine and scrape sides and bottom of the bowl.
Fold in dry ingredients
1. With a wide face spatula, fold in 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
2. Stop as soon as there is no trace of flour and add the next 1/3 of dry ingredients.
3. Repeat process with the last 1/3 of dry ingredients.
4. Do not overfold.
Transfer into Loaf Pan
1. This recipe is for a cake that would need a (7.87″ x 2.95″)(20 x 7.5)cm loaf pan.
2. To have the cake bake evenly with no cracks, only fill pan with batter until 2/3 full (no more). Any extra batter can be distributed into paper muffin cups and baked (reduce cooking times for the latter).
3. Transfer batter into loaf pan, drop the pan down a few inches off from the counter top to get rid of air pockets in batter and to level batter. If it stills needs leveling out, use the back of a spoon to tidy things up.
Bake
1. Bake ~45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre of cake comes out clean.
To store
1. Cool completely before slicing.
2. Store in an air tight container.
3. Refrigerate after the second day.
Tips
Gifting them
When gifting cakes, I bake loaf cakes as opposed to round or square cakes as they are easier to bake, pack and transport. I use less baking and packaging materials. Take a look.
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