Posted on Friday, 13th August 2010 by Grace Massa Langlois
The wedding has passed, my family has returned home and I can honestly say I can’t remember when I felt this exhausted. I loved having my family here, they have only been gone a couple of days and I miss them so much already. I haven’t done much of anything these last two days (trying to recuperate from the wedding festivities).
A friend was stopping by for a visit yesterday and I wanted to make a little something to go with coffee. I didn’t have too much time so I decided to go with Donna Hay’s quick and easy, iced butter cake.
It takes very little time to make and the best part of the recipe, everything comes together in one bowl. Clean up is a breeze and another bonus, it bakes at a low temperature, keeping the kitchen relatively cool, the air conditioner isn’t working double duty, perfect with the humid weather we’ve been experiencing.
The butter cake is extremely moist and it can be eaten plain but I decided to glaze it with a basic icing, it gives it just the right amount of sweetness. If you prefer, you could add lemon or orange juice with a little grated rind to the icing to give it a citrus flavour. You could also add citrus, coffee or spices to the cake to give it another dimension of flavour (see below).
Whatever way you decide to dress up this cake, the flavours are sure to please and impress your family or friends.
Butter Cake
(from Donna Hay Modern Classics, Book 2)
Serves 8
*See Variation Notes
- 125 g (4 oz) butter, very well softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup caster (superfine) sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), sifted
- 1/2 cup (4 fl oz) milk
- Preheat oven to 150° C (300° F). Grease a 20 cm (8 in) round cake tin and line with non-stick baking paper (sides and bottom).
- Place the butter, vanilla, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and milk in the bowl of an electric mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment). Beat on low speed until combined.
- Increase the speed to high and beat the mixture until it is just smooth.
- Spoon mixture into baking tin and bake for 1 hour 5 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in cake tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Turn out onto the wire rack and cool completely.
- Serve plain or spread with basic icing.
Butter Cake Variations
coffee butter cake
- Dissolve 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules or powder in 1 tablespoon boiling water and add in step 2 before mixing.
orange butter cake
- Add 1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind in step 2 before mixing.
lemon butter cake
- Add 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind in step 2 before mixing.
spiced butter cake
- Add 1 teaspoon either cinnamon or mixed spice in step 2 before mixing.
Basic Icing
(from Donna Hay Modern Classics, Book 2)
Makes 3/4 cup
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons water or 2 tablespoons lemon juice with 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind or 2 tablespoons orange juice and 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
- Using a fine-mesh sieve, sift confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl.
- Mix through water or lemon juice and rind or orange juice and rind until smooth.
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Tags: after school treat, afternoon tea, butter cake, cake, cakes, dessert, dessert recipes, desserts, Donna Hay recipes, food, food photography, food photos, quick desserts, small cakes
Posted in Baking & Pastry, Baking Mise en Place, Fillings, Frostings & Dessert Sauces, Pastry Doughs & Batter, Recipes
Comments (32)
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August 13th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Wow looks lovely and light! First thing that came to mind when I saw it was I’d add lemon..and I see you suggested doing so with the icing! Definitely something I will bake! Thanks for sharing and have a super weekend!
August 13th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
So delicious Deborah, actually going to enjoy another piece right now.
August 13th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Put your feet up and have a well deserved rest, yummy looking cake and hey! Only 1 bowl to wash up.
August 13th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Thanks Ryan, feeling a little guilty, house all to myself tonight and enjoying the calm.
p.s. love the redesign on your site, looks amazing!
August 13th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
this looks delicious. perfect for those saturday mornings when I have to whip something up to take to friends! yum!
August 14th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Such a versatile recipe…absolutely perfect!
August 14th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Grace my neighbor would bake me a lemon version of this…to die for
August 14th, 2010 at 11:51 am
I would have used lemon but the kids won’t eat any desserts with any type of citrus unless it is a savoury dish, go figure! I love citrus, I think it wakes up all the flavours, although this tastes pretty darn good as is, so buttery and moist.
August 14th, 2010 at 11:53 am
So versatile Ambika, I think it would be great layered with a little light custard and some sliced fresh fruit, what do you think?
August 15th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Wow. I love how simple this cake is! Goodness!
August 15th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Very simple Memoria but really delivers in flavour and so moist.
August 15th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Whatever way you ice it, I like the way you slice it…nice, big pieces! This looks too yummy and glad you recuperated from the wedding festivities!
September 1st, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Oh man this looks delicious! And your photographs are beautiful! Everything here looks great!
Thanks!
I recently launched my own blog, I’d love for you to check it out and let me know what you think!
September 2nd, 2010 at 8:16 am
Thank you Meredith! Your site looks great, those whoopi pies look delicious! Welcome to the world of food online. I am pretty new to blogging as well, only a few months. Keep in touch.
November 11th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
I made this tonight and enjoyed it a lot, actually. I was surprised because I thought I had really screwed it up – I forgot to add the eggs and realized my error after the cake had been in the oven for a minute or so. I retrieved the cake, beat the eggs, and then put the batter in the eggs and folded/mixed it all together with a spatula.
My cake was pretty dense – do you think this is why? Or is it supposed to be dense? It was kind of like a pound cake, but not quite. It was moist, though and the flavor was very good.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. I’ll definitely try it again. Mine didn’t have an eggy taste or cornbread taste like some of the butter cakes have, so I really enjoyed it.
November 11th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
What a great save Beth! Glad you enjoyed the cake! When I made the cake it was lighter than a pound cake and moist like yours. I think maybe if you try it again including the eggs from the beginning it will probably turn out a little lighter. Try not to over-mix I do that sometimes when I am doing too many things at once and I find my cakes will then turn out a little denser and sometimes dry. Thanks for commenting on the post, I haven’t made the cake in a while and I was just trying to think of a cake to bring to my Mom’s to enjoy with coffee tomorrow, this will be perfect, quick and easy.
November 12th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Thanks for responding!
I have a hard time with judging about overbeating, too. It is very possible I did just that. I need to work on it, but man, it is just so hard to tell when to stop!
The cake was totally delish, though – great flavor, and would be a great cake to stack due to it being a little on the denser side. Yum, yum.
Thanks again!
January 15th, 2011 at 10:39 pm
Second time making this cake tonight!
My sister, niece, and nephew are visiting; my nephew’s birthday is at the end of this month, so we wanted to have a mini-birthday party complete with cake for him. I remembered this delicious cake and whipped it up in a snap – it is probably the easiest cake, ever, to make, and the results are truly delicious – moist and yummy!
He asked for a green cake with green icing, so a few drops of green food coloring were added to the milk, but otherwise, the instructions were followed. This time, I made sure not to forget the eggs!
We did use a half batch of a different icing since a more birthday-cake-ish icing was necessary, but next time I’ll give the icing you cited a try!
Thanks again for passing this recipe along…the cake was really enjoyed by everyone!
January 16th, 2011 at 9:48 am
I am so very happy you enjoyed Beth. It is an easy cake but really delivers. Best birthday wishes to your nephew, hope he had an amazing Birthday!!
October 9th, 2011 at 1:16 am
[...] will be making an appearance (I know they won’t last long!). I think I may take this Iced Butter Cake recipe and transform this cake into petit fours with a layer of marzipan, glazed in white fondant and [...]
October 29th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
delicious looking cake looks wonderful
October 30th, 2011 at 12:16 am
This looks so clean and pretty. I love the simplicity of a butter cake and how easy it is to manipulate the flavors. I need to make one YUM!
October 30th, 2011 at 3:25 am
Easy and tasty. Beautiful cake.
October 30th, 2011 at 6:50 am
Oh, I really like the way it looks and the recipe!
October 30th, 2011 at 11:50 am
Sometimes the simplest recipes and flavors make for the most delicious cakes. This cake looks scrumptious just as it is…but I love all the variations you have to offer! : )
October 30th, 2011 at 11:07 pm
Very pretty Gracie. Can’t wait to try it.
October 31st, 2011 at 1:35 am
Beautiful cake, and I love how moist and delicious it looks..congrats on top 9!
October 31st, 2011 at 11:20 am
This cake looks so moist and delicious! I love the icing dripping off too… so scrumptious!
October 31st, 2011 at 11:42 am
So simple, yet so delicious sounding! Congrats on Top 9!
November 1st, 2011 at 8:36 am
Sometimes its the simplest recipes that are so good. And this looks delicious! And its just the right size! Definitely going to try this out!
April 11th, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Wondering whether to risk doubling the recipe for a deep cake…
April 12th, 2013 at 3:24 pm
Elyse did you receive my response by email? I wasn’t able to sign into the administrative side of my site until just now. I think you should be okay to double the recipe, the technique is pretty basic, just be sure to keep in mind you may have o beat for a little longer to bring the batter to smooth consistency.