Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Old Fashioned Butter Cake

Can you remember the good old butter cake sold at the old Hainanese coffee shops in the small towns of Malaysia? This kind of butter cake is very popular during Chinese New Year. I remember my mom used buy lots of it and we will have it a cup of kopi O (dark coffee) for breakfast or throughout the day and serve it to guest that come for a visit too. No one can resist a slice of good butter cake with nice soft texture that is light and not too dense. If I remember correctly there is a coffee shop in Kajang that runs by a few sisters still selling this type of butter cake and also Yut Kee, at Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur. I think Yut Kee butter cake and kaya swiss roll are the best. They sell the whole cake or by the slice.


A friend of mine from Malaysia shares this recipe with me years ago and I’ve written it in my note book and forgotten all about. I was clearing up my book shelves and found the note book again and there was this recipe. The recipe said to use margarine but since margarine is not so favorable in my book so I replaced it with butter. For best results you need to use pure butter. You can either use Golden Churn or Lupak. I should have used the 9” cake pan  instead of an 8” pan and as you can see I over baked it a bit. So how do I like this butter cake? Taste wise it was pretty good, not too dense and with very fine crumbs. The next time I bake this it will be in a bigger pan.

Ingredients:

350 grm butter
280 grm sugar
8 large eggs, separate the yolk and white
330 grm self rising flour
½ tsp salt
50 ml milk


1. Line and greased a 9” or 10” baking pan. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degree F. Sieve the flour and salt and set it aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scrapping down the side a couple of times. Add in the yolk one at a time. Beat well after adding each one. Then add in the milk.
3. Fold in the flour in 3 batches. Mix well and set it aside.
4. In another clean bowl, whisk egg white on high speed until soft peaks. Fold in the egg whites into the butter mixture until well blended. Do not over-do it or the egg whites will deflate.
5. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for an hour or until the skewer comes out clean when tested.


Note: For the marbling effect, melt 2 oz of dark chocolate and mix it with 3 tbsp of the cake batter. Dollop it on top of the cake and give it a few swirl with a fork. For citrusy flavor you can replace the milk with orange juice or lemon juice.

34 comments:

My Little Space said...

Since everyone address you as Gert, hope you don't mind I'm calling you Gert as well! hehe... Oh yeah, you remind me of the old days butter cake my mom used to buy during the CNY. To gift them to neighbours & friends. I'll definitely give this a go. Bookmarked this! Thanks for sharing. Have a great day.
Regards, kristy
p/s regarding the ginger dipping, I think my dad also using the same ingredients. The difference is the chopping skill!!! Ahhh...^_^

coffeesncookies said...

Yut Kee is walking distance from my office. Their kaya swiss roll is ze best but I don't like the marble cake. Yours definitely looks much better. since the recipe calls for margarine, perhaps using blends.. ie mix of butter and margarine would be nice. Lots of 'lepa susu istimewa'here.. Buttercup, Farmcow, Butterblends.. perhaps these works good with marble cakes ?

busygran said...

I can see that you have used a smaller tin by the height of the cake. But it looks buttery good!
I love old-fashioned butter cake.

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Lovely butter cake...nice and tall! It's hard to get it baked through and not over baking it sometimes when we use this round bake pan. But yours still good, I wouldn't know its over baked if you didn't mention it. :)

Shereen said...

Gert,
That butter cake look so good..sometimes the simplest cake is the best rather than those fancy ones.I will try baking this once I'm feeling better.Your cake look okay,what...I like taller cakes than the leper ones..look more cantik.

Angie's Recipes said...

Time to bake some real butter cake! This looks tall and smooth!

Yummy Bakes said...

This butter cake looks tall and soft. Very nicely baked.

Bakericious said...

lovely butter cake, this is our family all time favourite. I just baked one zebra butter cake and finished fast by my family. Your cake is so tall, I love tall cakes :).

ijayuji said...

hi gert! my all time fev, butter cake!!!! i should try some too.. they looks so perfect and yummylicious ;-) thanks for sharing!

Smoky Wok (formerly Tastes of Home) said...

I love plain butter cake too especially with coffee hehe..I like yut kee's cakes too. Your version looks yummy!

WendyinKK said...

Gert Gert,
I was just thinking of butter cake 2 hours ago!!!!
I loved those Hainanese coffee shop butter cakes....I used to think they used more milk, but after looking at your recipe, they use a lot of eggs.
I really got to try this the next time I'm craving for butter cake.

Unknown said...

What absolutely gorgeous cake, love the marbling

Anonymous said...

Hi! Gert

I've follow your blog for awhile now and love the recipes and presentation. The old fashion butter cake is one of my favourite. Thank you for posting

Little Corner of Mine said...

8 eggs, this is a big cake. They made this cake by separating the eggs too, like a sponge/chiffon cake.

Kitchen Corner said...

WOW! This butter cake looks very high in size. It looks like very soft and light butter cake. I like this!

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

I like this kind of old fashion butter cake, and my mom also love this, I bake this 2-3times in a month. Love to eat this with a cup of coffee too.

ann low said...

Talking about this old fashioned butter cake, I remember this was available at the Katong Red House near my school. I usually liked to buy a piece of this buttery cake on my way home after school.

Nuridah said...

Helo Gert,

nice to know you and thk u for visiting my blog...actually I am one of your silent reader and ever tried your cake recipe...it turned out great and super yummy.

For this time round I will try your butter cake...this kind of cake reminds me of my late mum & auntie cos they won't miss this cake during raya season...

kat said...

Mmmmm... Oily and fragrant! Sooo delicious, sooo fattening!! :D The Hainanese do have some of the best recipes around. I like the way they 'Chinese-fy' western dishes to suit our Chinese palate. :)

Gert, do you reckon we can use a bundt pan to make this? With a well-greased pan, shouldn't be a problem removing the cake, right?

Joyti said...

How beautiful and delicious. I really like the appearance of the sliced cake...the 'marbling' is gorgeous.

ReeseKitchen said...

Wow, the cake is so nice and tall. Beautifully done Gert, mine is always short short one leh..haha!

ICook4Fun said...

Kristy, yea you can call me Gert :) so you mom used to bake this too. Maybe you can share her recipe with us :)

Coffeencookies, I too like Yut Kee swiss roll better than the butter cake. I find their butter cake too oily. Not sure about t hose butter. I think I only use Farmcow before moving here :)

Busygran, yes way too small :)

Bee Bee, yes this cake takes me longer to bake than the usual cake because it was too tall ha ha..next time use a bigger pan :)

Shereen, thanks you. You better don't bake now as you are not well. Take care yea sis.

Angie, thanks.

Yummy Koh, thank you.

Jess, I think most of us do like a good piece of butter cake :)

Ijayuji, hope you like this cake. By the way, hope you have a great Hari Raya celebrations.

ICook4Fun said...

Jen, me too :)

Wendy, great mind think alike :) it is hard to find this type of cake from the Hainanese coffee shop now. Can you get it at your side of town?

Jennifurla, thank you.

Anon, thanks you for your support. Hope to see your comment often :)

LCOM, yea a big cake. I notice by separating the yolk and white it gives a lighter and airy cake.

Grace, thank you.

Sonia, me too :)

ICook4Fun said...

Ann, it is so difficult to find this type of good old butter now in Malaysia. Can you still get it in S'pore?

Nuridah, thanks for stopping by and your comment. Hope you like this cake. Let me know how it turn out :)

Kat, yes you can use a bundt pan for this cake.

Indie, thanks for stopping by and your kind comment.

Reese, try this cake out and maybe you can get a tall cake this time :)

kat said...

Hi Gert. Forgot to ask you, how long should we bake the cake if we are using bundt pan? Should we reduce the baking time?

My Little Space said...

My mom don't know anything about baking. She bought those cakes every year from the nearby kopitiam! Your children are so lucky because you can cook & bake very very well at the same time.
Thank you.
Regards, Kristy

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Can anyone advise me why whenever I bake cakes, they will always turn up to be hard? :(

Appreciate and thanks in advance.

Anonymous said...

Hi Gert,
i'm so happy to see this picture of my dad's favourite cake. Also found out from the comments that this is popular in malaysia, no wonder my dad who grew up in malaysia loves it so much. i'm going to use your recipe and bake it to bring home for chinese new year from aus! and yes, in singapore, it seems that my mum has to go all the way to a bangawan solo shop to get this cake for dad.

ling

Reese Darragh said...

Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have been looking for this recipe quite a while now. Miss those old school Hainanese Kopitiam's butter cake in Malaysia.

Sem said...

Our family love this butter cake, I noticed Yut Kee butter cake has added some tiny bits of dried tangerine peels, which is quite interesting ,but a bit too oily for me too.
Nowadays, the lunch crowd for Yut Kee start at 11 something in the morning ,doing a roaring business.

weekendbakerontheloose said...

Hi ...I'm wondering how would the cake texture appear to be if I don't whisk the egg white separately. Would the cake then becomes denser instead of fluffy and light?

Leen said...

Dear Gert
I have made this recipe into 3 different cakes - blueberry, choc chip and yesterday, orange cake! I can say this is the best butter cake my family has tested ever!
Thank you for sharing and God Bless you,
Leen of Melbourne

ICook4Fun said...

You are most welcome Leen. glad that your family likes this cake.

Ashleets said...

Thanks fr sharing this recipe. Love it. Baked it numerous times..never fail to impress my friends.