The Best Basic Butter Cake
A recipe for The Best Basic Butter Cake from the cookbook, The Dessert Game. These butter cakes are baked until golden and brushed with honey.
Servings 5 Servings
Ingredients
- 250 grams (9 ounces) unsalted butter softened
- 210 grams (7 1/2 ounces) caster (superfine) sugar
- 200 grams (7 ounces) self-raising flour
- 2 pinches of fine salt
- 3 eggs
- 185 milliliters (6 fluid ounces) full-cream milk
- Grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
- 20 grams (3/4 ounces) honey plus 50 grams (1 1/3 ounce) for brushing
- 20 milliliters (3/4 fluid ounces) extra virgin olive oil
- Fruit of your choice (see Notes)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line five 10 centimeter (4 inch) spring-form cake tins with baking paper.
- Put the butter and sugar in an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium–high speed until fluffy, about 5–8 minutes.
- Meanwhile, sift the flour and salt together.
- Once the butter mixture is fluffy, add the eggs, one at a time, and whisk until combined.
- Add the milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, honey and olive oil and whisk until completely incorporated. Add the sifted flour and slowly whisk until a batter is formed.
- Spoon 190 grams (6 3/4 ounces) of the batter into each cake tin. Arrange thin slices or pieces of fruit on top.
- Bake the cakes for 35–40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of each one comes out clean.
- Warm the honey in the microwave for 10–20 seconds to loosen it.
- Drizzle each hot cake with some of the honey and use a pastry brush to brush it over the top of the cake.
- Allow the cakes to cool a little before removing them from the tins and brushing them with more honey.
Notes
NOTES: Try using thinly sliced or chopped apples, oranges, figs or berries on top of the cakes. Ensure the fruit isn’t too bulky or it will sink into the batter.
You can also cook the batter in one large cake tin. Increase the cooking time by about 15–30 minutes, depending on the size of the tin.