Butter Cake 牛油蛋糕

Butter cake recipe # One

For many baking rookies, this seem to be one of the basic cakes to try out with right? I was one of them. However, I soon found out that this cake was not as easy as it may have seemed to be rated by most of the recipes.

When baking butter cake, I bet many of you might experience one or both of the following problems, which to me was really demotivating.

1st – Why my butter cake taste dry?
So far, I had attempted 3 times, with 3 different types of butter and experienced 3 different consistency of moistness.  Apparently, to yield a moist buttery butter cake, the key is very much depending on the type of butter and liquid used in the recipe.

2nd – Why my butter cake crack in the middle? So far, out of the 3 trials, only the recent birthday cake that l made for my son turned out with perfect flat and smooth surface. In my previous two attempts, the cakes cracked miserably in the middle like an earthquake. So, what did I do in my recent trial that made a difference from the previous ones? For this trial, even though I did use a different recipe but I believed the key change was more of using a round cake pan rather than a loaf pan, which I happened to use for my previous 2 butter cakes.

Thanks to Joy of Baking that helped to solve my mystery. In her blog, she pointed out most cakes baked in loaf, bar or ring pans crack slightly due to the confined space. Hence, if smaller cake pan is used, it is much easier for the cake to rise and crack in the center. In addition, oven temperature also plays an important factor - too hot an oven temperature causes the cake to peak faster in the middle and erupt, resulting in cracks.

To avoid too hot an oven, it is best to bake with lower temperature in the beginning ( around 160/170 degree Celsius) and adjust placement of the cake to bottom rack of oven instead of the middle rack to make the top brown slower than the sides.

The following were the loaf butter cakes I made comparing to the one bought in a store. Both had the same crack effect in the center. I baked these 3 loaf of butter cakes in April during Qīngmíng festival (清明節) prayer to pay honour to my late mother and parents-in-law.



Initially, it was disappointing seeing the cracked cakes came out from the oven. However, when my family members especially my father who tasted the cake and praised highly its moistness and buttery taste with positive comments that the cake was tastier than those from the store, I felt so much relieved!

This butter cake recipe is adapted from Agnes Chang's Baking Made Easy, (蓝赛珍，轻轻松松学烘焙） but I added more milk in the recipe to give it more moisture. For this recipe, I used Buttercup brand butter which was not really butter but margarine. I was surprised that the cake turned out to be as moist and buttery as a branded butter.

Last month 14th of July, in celebrating my son’s 10th birthday, I did another attempt by using an expensive branded butter, SCS butter. This time I opted for a different recipe, adapted from Christine’s Recipes Butter Pound Cake. Click the link to access this recipe directly from her famous food blog.


   

I was pleased to see a crack free round butter cake. However, my family felt that the taste of this cake was drier and not as moist as my previous butter cake. I was not sure whether it was due to the change of recipe or the butter that I used. 

Thanks to hubby’s great calligraphy writing skill that transformed this plain looking butter cake into a nice looking birthday cake.




Shared below is the butter cake recipe adapted from Agnes Chang’s Baking Make Easy.

BUTTER CAKE

Source: Agnes Chang’s Baking Make Easy
Ingredients:
250g butter, at room temperature
250g self rising flour
200 -250g castor sugar ( I reduced to 180g)
4 eggs
4 tbsp. fresh milk ( I added 6tbsp.)
1 tsp. vanilla essence  

Methods:

Preheat oven to 180°C for 15 minutes. ( I reduce to 175)

Lightly grease a 22cm round baking tin or line it with grease-proof paper.

Sieve self rising flour and set aside.

Mix butter and sugar using low speed until well combined.

Change to medium speed and beat until light and pale in yellow.

(Note: Sugar has not dissolved yet).

Add in the first egg, beat well after each addition of egg until creamy.

Scrape down the sides for even mixing.

Add in vanilla essence and mix well.

Divide flour into three portions, use lowest speed to mix in flour.

Scrape down sides for even mixing.

Finally, add milk .

Pour the mixture into the greased baking tin.

Shake and tap on table  lightly to distribute cake mixture evenly and to get the air out.

Place the cake at the lower rack in the oven.

Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked.

If a toothpick/skewer comes out clean, it is done.

Remove it from the oven and leave the cake in the tray to cool on the rack for 5 minutes before removing from tray.

Notes:

If the cake turns brown too quickly, cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil towards the last 15 minutes.

 

牛油蛋糕

资料来源：蓝赛珍，轻轻松松学烘焙

 

材料：

牛油２５０克

白砂糖 - 180-200g

全蛋　４个

低筋面粉２５０克（过筛）

发粉　１茶匙　（过筛）

鲜奶　４汤匙

半茶匙盐

1茶匙香草精

做法：

1.     烤箱预热至180℃。最好先预热15分钟

2.     将烤箱预热至180℃15分钟， 可减少至175， 烤盘抹油或置油纸。自发面粉过筛。

3.     使用低速 将牛油＋细砂糖一起混合搅拌，换到中速打至松发变白。

4.     在糖还没有完全溶解，倒入第一个鸡蛋液后继续搅拌，每次加蛋奶油完全吸收蛋液后，再加入蛋液搅拌至蛋液搅拌完毕。再加入香草精拌匀。

5.     面粉划分为三分次拌入，鸡蛋奶油里最低速度搅拌混合 最后，加入牛奶拌匀。

6.     把混合物倒入抹油的烤盘。在桌子上轻轻地震动和敲击烤盘使蛋糕混合物均匀分布​​，并让空气排出。

7.     将烤盘放进烘箱中的下架。烤45分钟或至金黄色。 用牙签/串以测试，串出来干净，它已熟。

8.     从烘箱中取出，让烤盘冷却5分钟后才除去烤盘倒出蛋糕。

注意事项：
如果蛋糕表面过焦，最后15分钟可在面蛋糕覆蓋一張鋁箔紙。

Pumpkin Loaf (Tangzhong) 南瓜汤种面包

Healthy Golden Vegetable bread

Pumpkin is one of our family favourite vegetables, if you search thru my blog you will find quite a number of recipes using pumpkin with various cooking methods from baking, stir fry to porridge making. 

Last week, pumpkin was on offer in the local market and we have bought one at a good price. With only 4 of us in a family, I used to buy a cut portion of a pumpkin. This time with a whole pumpkin,  Since, I decided to use some for bread making. 

Those who follow my blog will know that I love making Tangzhong bread. While google through the net, I came across one of my favourite food blogger Christine’s Recipes Tangzhong Pumpkin loaf, which was exactly the right bread recipe that I was looking for.

Thanks to Christine, her recipe never fails me. I have another great soft fluffy loaf that I hope can last for 2 days of breakfast meals for my family !

Following are the main ingredients to make this pumpkin bread. For the full recipe, check out Christine’s blog.

Main Ingredients: 120g Tangzhong (please refer to this to make Tangzhong) 100 g pumpkin puree 50 g whisked egg 110 ml milk 40 g honey 12 g milk power ½ tsp. salt 350 gm bread flour 2 tsp. instant dried yeast 25 gm butter, melted

After kneading use windowpane test to test dough elasticity before placing it back into the greased bowl to start the proofing process.

Once the second proofing is finished, brush whisked egg on surface then placed the dough into oven to bake with 180C degree for 30 minutes.


Leave it on rack to cool for 5 minutes before demould. Brush some melted butter on the loaf and cover with tea towel for 10 minutes. Once cooled completely, slice the bread and it’s time to enjoy the healthy vegetable golden bread!