I want to have my cake and eat it too!

Since Yang loves butter cake and requested that I try to bake one, I have been browsing various butter cake recipes and experimenting with some of them. I started with my mother in-law’s recipe but it turned out somewhat rubbery. No offence intended here. I think it could be that I copied down the wrong amount of ingredients or there is a difference in the type of oven used. In the meantime, I borrowed a baking book entitled ‘Ultimate Cake’ from the National Library during an outing with Yang (he was at Sim Lim Square shopping for his second MP3 player ).

The ‘Ultimate Cake’ is a really useful book for beginners (or dummies) like me. It starts with giving a glimpse into the history of cakes and the cultures that gave rise to it. This is followed by a photo gallery showing the world’s most mouth-watering, tempting and spectacular cakes. The most practical section has to be the full-colour introduction to the key ingredients and tools used in cake-making, with a photographic guide to the basic techniques and principles of baking. I relied a lot on this section to ensure that I got the right texture for my batter before moving on to the next step. The book comes with over 100 recipes for cakes and instructions for making icings, fillings and decorations. It even has a trouble-shooting section at the end if the cake did not turn out right.

Since I had the luxury of time today after church, I decided to try out one of the butter cake recipes found in the book. When it comes to cooking, I prefer recipes that call for more flavours. So instead of using a plain butter cake recipe, I picked one with a citrus flavour. It is called lemon syrup butter cake. I followed the recipe quite closely, and together with some common sense (seriously, one should use it), my cake turned out nicely – fragrant, spongy and lemony Below is the recipe with some modifications:

Lemon Syrup Butter Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake

• 125g butter (softened)
• 100g caster sugar
• 125g self-raising flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder (ya, I’m paranoid just in case the cake refuse to rise)
• a pinch of baking soda (same paranoia here!)
• 1 tbsp finely grated lemon skin (avoid the white part underneath the yellow skin)
• 1 tbsp finely grated orange skin (avoid the white part)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp warm water

For the syrup

• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
• 50g sugar

Method:

For the cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius.
2. Grease the base and sides of a baking tray (7 x 7 x 2.25 inch) with butter.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft and creamy.
4. Add caster sugar, grated lemon and orange skin and beat for 3-5 mins until pale and fluffy. (This step in important as it incorporates air that is necessary to making a good cake.)
5. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
6. Sift in the flour, baking powder and baking soda together. Beat into the butter mixture, followed by the water.
7. Spoon the mixture into the baking tray and bake in preheated oven for 28 mins (your oven may take a shorter or longer time. Just monitor the browning process of the cake surface. When it looks kinda risen and golden brown, open oven and insert a toothpick all the way down the middle of cake and remove it. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready.) Important: Never open the oven during the initial baking process, the draught can cause the cake to sink. Only open when 3/4 of the baking time has passed or the cake looks golden brown.
8. Once the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and poke its surface here and there with a toothpick.
9. Spoon the warm syrup (see instruction below) over the entire surface. Leave to cool
10. Cut the cake into appropriate sizes to be served with hot tea.
11. Store the rest of uneaten cake in an air-tight container to prevent drying out. Keeps for about a week.

For the syrup (do this after 20 mins into baking time)

Put the lemon juice, orange juice and sugar into a small, non-stick pan and heat gently until the sugar has all dissolved. Keep it warm (not boiling).