How to Make Butter Cake

by Tereza Alabanda

H

ere is the riddle: It weighs at least four pounds and you can make it look like anything you want – even a British pound! Your heart will be pounding when you stand on your bathroom scale because you will gain a pound by eating it and – yes – it is also unbelievably easy to make. What is it? It’s – a butter cake!

What is Butter Cake?

Butter cake is a dense, rich cake made of four basic ingredients – butter, sugar, eggs and flour. Usually, a leavening agent, such as baking powder or baking soda is added, but butter cake can be made without one. Foundation of the butter cake, as the name suggests, is butter, which is creamed along with sugar. When the mixture becomes creamy, eggs are added one by one, and at the end dry ingredients with leavening agent included are folded in. If you are making butter cake without a leavening agent, and you want it to be lighter, cream butter with ²⁄₃ of sugar, add one by one egg yolk to the mixture. Make French meringue out of egg whites and remaining ¹⁄₃ of sugar. Fold the dry ingredients alternately with French meringue, and be careful not to overmix the batter. Besides basic ingredients, butter cake can contain some other ingredients such as milk, buttermilk, sour cream, ground nuts, dried or candied fruits, etc. Butter cake can be baked in a loaf tin or a round cake mold. It can be served just dusted with powdered sugar, but you could also fill it with buttercream or another icing.

Pound Cake Story

Butter cake originated from English pound cake. Although its name might suggest that it costs one pound sterling or – (OMG!) that you could gain a pound if eating one, it’s all only about the quantities of ingredients needed. Traditionally, the pound cake is made by using the same quantities of basic ingredients; a pound of butter, flour, eggs and sugar each. People around the world use different names for this cake, so – in Spain you will eat a Madeira cake, in France it will be quatre-quarts [katʁ kaʀ], and Germans will enjoy Eischwerkuchen [aiʃveːɐˈkuːxn].

So, How to Make Butter Cake?

You should have all the ingredients at room temperature to get the best result. High-fat cakes are made by using creaming method, that I already mentioned in the post about shortcrust pastry.

• Solid fat, usually butter, is creamed with sugar in a stand mixer until it becomes light, pale and expands in volume. This procedure incorporates air into the mixture, and during baking air cells spread and leaven the cake.

• After creaming fat, eggs are mixed into the fat which emulsifies the mixture. It is possible to add whole eggs or just egg yolks, and in that case, remaining egg whites are mixed separately into meringue and folded into the mixture at the end.

• Finally, flour and other ingredients are added.

• Butter cake is baked at 180ºC (350°F) until the cake tester comes out clean, for approximately 1 hour.

9 Most Popular Butter Cake Flavors

1. Lemon cake – velvety, moist and flavorful, drizzled with tangy lemon glaze!
2. I don’t have to persuade you to try the chocolate one, I hope!
3. If you are up to an extra rich fruitcake, just toss lots of dried fruits into your butter cake.
4. Make peanut butter cake and fill it with rich chocolate buttercream.
5. What do you think of pistachio & cherry butter cake? I love it!
6. Add some shredded coconut to your butter cake batter and make a coconut butter cake. You can fill it with vanilla buttercream and decorate with large coconut shreds!
7. I am one of those people who really like poppy seeds, whether they are on my kaiser roll, in raspberry and poppy seed tart, or in a lovely poppy seed butter cake!
8. You can make almond butter cake by adding some ground toasted almonds into your cake batter. And to get beautiful looks and extra rich taste, sprinkle the surface of your cake with sliced almonds before baking!
9. Hazelnuts are a classic! Add toasted hazelnuts to your cake batter and sprinkle some chopped ones on top of your cake before baking to add some extra crunch.

Butter cakes are wonderfully rich, soft and indulgent desserts. The possibilities are endless – you can start with a simplistic dust-your-cake-with-powdered-sugar method, or you can go to town and invent elaborate, exotic fillings and/or coatings. Whatever you do, let me know!

Pound Cake Recipe

by:Tereza Alabanda,The Pastry Maestra

PRINT PDF (EN)

ISPIŠI PDF (HR)

Prep. time : 20 minutes

Cook time : 60 minutes

Ready in 80 minutes

Level : Basic

Ingredients:

• Butter 250g (8.8oz)
• Sugar 250g (8.8oz)
• Eggs 250g (8.8oz)
• All purpose flour 250g (8.8oz)
• Vanilla powder
• Salt a pinch

Directions

1. Cream softened butter, sugar and vanilla powder until the mixture becomes creamy.
2. Add eggs gradually mixing well after each addition.
3. Fold in sifted flour and salt, and pour the batter into a round pan 20cm (8″) in diameter.
4. Bake the cake at 180ºC (350°F) for about 1 hour, until the cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.

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