This simple cake is a celebration of butter! Good quality unsalted cultured butter is key to great flavour and a delectable caramelised crust. Sour cream is also added to ensure a moist texture. A butter cake is the perfect party cake at it’s easy to decorate and dress up for any occasion.
Ingredients
3 cups of plain cake flour
1 tbs baking powder
pinch of salt
1⁄2 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
225g cultured unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 cups caster sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs (at room temperature)
3 egg yolks (at room temperature)
Frosting
450g cultured unsalted butter (at room temperature)
5 cups icing sugar
Edible flowers for decorating
Method
- Preheat oven to 170C and ensure your eggs and butter are at room temperature before you begin baking.
- Grease two 20cm round cake tins and line with baking paper. Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Combine the sour cream and milk together and set aside.
- In an electric mixer, beat the butter on a medium speed for 2 minutes or until light and creamy. Add caster sugar and vanilla and mix for about 4 minutes or until fluffy and combined.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and add eggs and yolks one at a time on a low speed until combined.
- Add half of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed. Once combined, add the milk mixture and mix. Finally, add the remaining flour mixture and mix on a medium speed until you have a smooth batter.
- Pour the batter as evenly as possible into the pre-prepared cake tins and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Cool cakes in tins for 20 minutes before gently turning them out on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator – this makes the cakes easier to cut and decorate.
- When you’re ready to decorate, cut each cake in half horizontally as evenly as possible (a wire cake cutter can make life easier if you’re striving for perfection!).
- On a moderate speed, beat butter in a mixer for 2 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Lowering the speed, gradually add the icing sugar until whipped and combined. Food colouring can also be added and mixed in at this point if desired.
- Using a small spatula, spread 1⁄2 a cup of frosting on top of the first layer before placing cake on top, repeat until you have 4 layers. Work the rest of the frosting on top and on sides of cake and smooth out with a large spatula.
- Chill the cake to set the frosting and dress with edible flowers just before serving.Mish is a recipe writer and food stylist as well as one of our very own Prahran Market Tour Guides.Follow Mish on Instagram @mish.delish for more recipe inspiration.
