I love eating butter and butter cakes. I think it’s because my Mom used to cut them into thick slices, poke each with a toothpick and serve them as snacks to us kids. This recipe is iconic and rightfully so. The smell when freshly baked is heavenly, and the texture is soft and spongy. Anyway, the way I judge my bakes are based on their popularity with my kids, this one was swept clean in under 2 days, so it’s awesome.

I use mostly President or SCS, but go ahead to pick any brand that you will enjoy eating on its own. French brands is lighter colour than SCS and gives a pleasant yellow colour to the cake. Just bear in mind that no matter how light and fluffy the texture appears, this is a heavy cake and should be eaten in moderation.

Recipe ( for a 20 cm by 10 cm loaf pan)

(From Mrs Ng SK)

Yolk Mixture

• 125g butter cut into chunks
• 2 egg yolks
• 75g sugar (I reduced this to 55g)
• 100g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 30ml milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt

Egg white Mixture

• 2 egg white
• 25g sugar
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar (optional)

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C. Grease all sides of loaf pan and line bottom with baking paper.
• Start with yolk mixture by hand whisking butter and 75g sugar together till pale and fluffy.
• Add in yolks one by one till well incorporated, follow by vanilla essence.

• Mix in half of the flour that has been sifted with the baking powder. Mix gently, then add in half of the milk. Repeat till all flour and milk have been added and the yolk mixture is now ready.

• Using an electric whisk, beat the eggs till large bubbles form. Add in the cream of tartar, follow by the 25g sugar in 2 batches. Continue beating till stiff peak and the meringue is white and glossy.
• Mix 1/3 of meringue to the yolk mixture with a hand whisk gently to loosen it. Then pour the yolk mixture into the meringue and mix gently with a spatula till evenly mixed.
• Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Tap loaf pan against the table 1-2 times to release big bubbles.

• Bake for 30 – 35 min till golden brown and test with a skewer that should come out clean.

• Once done, remove cake from pan by overturning the pan onto a cooling rack. Remove baking paper from the bottom and let cake cool completely before slicing.