Basic Butter Cake

 

Ingredients

• 150g butter
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp imitation vanilla essence
• 1 2/3 cups self raising flour
• 1/3 cup milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Brush tin with melted butter or oil. Line base and side with baking paper.

2. Using electric beaters, beat butter and sugar in small mixing bowl until light and creamy. Add eggs gradually, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add essence, beat until combined.

3. Using a metal spoon, fold in sifted flour alternatively with milk. Stir until just combined and mixture is smooth. Be careful not to overmix.

4. Spoon mixture into prepared tin; smooth surface. Bake 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when it is inserted in centre of cake. Leave cake in the tin 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Notes

This quantity can be adapted to most sizes of cake tin. Make up one and a half quantities of mixture for a 20x30cm tin and two quantities for a Swiss roll tin. When using a Swiss roll tin, line the tin with baking paper extending 3cm over each edge. Use any leftover cake mixture for patty cakes.

Variations

22 cm round cake, bake 65 mins
20cm sqaure cake, bake 55 mins
23cm square cake, bake 55 mins
Four 9cm round cakes, bake 45 mins
Kugelhopf tin, bake 65 mins
Charlotte tin (15x18cm), bake 65 mins