Friday, June 5, 2009

another try

another try at the recipe I've posted previously. This time, I decided to bake it in a smaller pan and following the original recipe to the T. that is, a pure, simple, butter cake.

The original recipe called for baking in an 8" cake pan. I thought to myself, since it would be some sort of an experiment/try-out, I decided to half the recipe and bake it in a 6" cake pan. This way, less ingredients used, less damage to my wallet + waistline. Sounds pretty good huh?

This time, I managed to whip the egg whites to soft peaks stage (or so i THINK it is the correct soft peak stage). My oven played tricks on me and the temperature was really not what it was supposed to be. As a result, the cake split open at the top while the interior was still underbaked. =X

It really turned out to be an experiment of some sort as I had no idea how long should I have baked it for. I'm still in the midst of figuring out my oven's temperment (big sigh) and wondering if my oven thermometer is calling for a retirement soon. (I dropped it once, and i'm not unsure if it functions as well as before)

Whatever factor it was, the cake turned out pleasing, soft and fluffy, moist and buttery. I felt, however, that there was a tinge of sugar overdose in there. *shrugs*

p.s: comparing to the butter cake I had at some hotel, i can safely say, I like mine alot better. I think D has to agree on this..right? haha!

Yummy Butter Cake

Ingredients:
125 gm. Butter
50 gm. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Essence
45 gm. Egg Yolk
1-1/2 Tbsp. Evaporated milk
100 gm. Cake flour
2.5 gm. Baking powder (about 1/2 tsp)
a pinch of salt
80 gm. Egg White
50 gm. Sugar

Method:
(1) Grease a 6” cake tin. Preheat oven to 180C. Beat butter, margarine, sugar, salt and vanilla essence until light and creamy.
(2) Add in the egg yolk one at a time and beat until creamy. Add in evaporated milk.
(3) Fold in sieved cake flour and baking powder.
(4) Whisk egg white and sugar to soft peaks and fold gently into the creamed butter mixture. You can fold in 1/3 of the egg whites first to lighten the creamed butter mixture followed by the rest of the egg whites.
(5) Bake cake for 1 hour in oven at 180 deg.C or when the skewer comes clean. Turn the cake onto wire rack to cool.

adapted from aunty yochana

Some tips..
1. Do not over/under cream butter sugar mixture. Over creaming results in a cake with a sunken center. Under creaming results in a dense, heavy cake
2. Do not over/under bake. Over baking results in a badly cracked, dry cake or cake that shrinks upon cooling resulting in a cake with less volume. Under baking results in a heavy, wet cake.
3. Turn over the cake immediately after removing from the oven to prevent it from sinking and shrinking from the sides.

8 comments:

Travelerfolio said...

Yum yum I love pastries!

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Sugar Inc® said...

Congratulations! This cake is a beauty!

youfei said...

Thanks Anna!

D said...

yup!

totally agree.

Tracy Gan said...

Hi there, I am currently into baking butter cakes but its always too dense and heavy T_T I was just wondering how to perfectly cream the butter sugar mixture :) Thanks!!

youfei said...

Hi Tracy,

I hope it is not due to your recipe that the cake is dense and heavy. However, there ARE tips to creaming the butter sugar mixture perfectly =)

1. Always make sure that your butter is at room temperature. I like to chop the butter up into cubes and allow it to come to room temperature before creaming. It is not advisable to leave one block of butter out as the surface will become oily while the inside still remains cold.

2. Cream the butter on med-high speed until the butter turns creamy. (i.e. no lumps or butter bits)

3. Add in 1/3 of the sugar and cream at high until sugar is almost fully incorporated before adding the next third. Repeat until all the sugar have been added.

4. Stop when the mixture has turn a fluffy and is almost white in colour. (very very very pale yellow)

I hope the above tips will help! If it still doesn't work, you may consider using another recipe. =)

Tracy Gan said...

Hi hi thanks for the tips I will try your recipe soon :) Just wondering in your recipe says that fold in the sieved flour, does it means that i should keep away my electric hand mixer and just use the spatula to mix the flour instead? Besides that, everytime I will use a skewer to test the cake, when it turns out clean, i will take it out, will that be too quick? Should i leave it in a little longer and the cake might be more fluff? :) Sorry for asking so many questions! :) Really glad for your reply! :)

youfei said...

Hi Tracy,

You're welcome =)

You still can use the electric mixer, just make sure it is on LOW speed and STOP once the flour is incorporated. If you have tiny bits of flour, fold it in with the spatula.

If you are trying the recipe i posted, do make sure that the egg whites are beaten to SOFT peaks and fold in carefully (with a spatula). Do not overfold.

You are right to take out the cake when the skewer is clean. However, sometimes I prefer to take it out when there is "few loose crumbs attached on the skewer" This ensures I don't over-bake the cake and yet, the cake is already cooked. Testing it when the skewer comes out clean MIGHT risk over baking as an over-baked cake will also have a clean skewer.

Hope I didn't confuse you. And wishing you a successful attempt on butter cakes!

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