Basic butter cake

Build ’em up, buttercup! This easy, popular cake will be snaffled in a flash, so think ahead and make two! - by Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

• Cooking oil spray, for greasing

• 160g unsalted butter, chopped, softened

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• ¾ cup caster sugar

• 2 eggs

• 2 cups self-raising flour, sifted

• ²⁄³ cup milk

• Icing sugar, for dusting

Glace butter icing

• 60g unsalted butter, melted

• 1½ cups icing sugar mixture

• 1 tsp flavoured essence or fruit juice (optional)

• 1 tsp food colouring (optional)

• ½-1 tsp water

Cook’s tips

You’ll know when the butter mixture is ‘light and fluffy’ as it will change from pale yellow to almost white, and the beating process has generated enough air to create a ‘fluffy’ appearance. Use caster sugar instead of regular white sugar – the fine granules dissolve more easily. Check on your cake halfway during cooking. If it’s not rising evenly, carefully rotate the cake. And if it’s browning too quickly, loosely cover with a sheet of foil.

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Spray a 20cm round cake tin with cooking oil and line base and side with baking paper.
Put butter, vanilla and caster sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high for 2 minutes. Scrape down side of bowl with a spatula. Continue beating for a further 2 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Gently fold in flour, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until mixture is smooth, but take care not to overbeat.
Spoon batter into prepared tin and smooth surface with a palette knife or spatula. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make Glacé Butter Icing, put butter, icing sugar mixture, essence or fruit juice, if using, and food colouring, if using, in a medium bowl. Beat with a large metal spoon until well combined, gradually adding water until consistency is like thick honey. If not using essence or colouring, substitute with extra water.
Pour icing onto centre of cake and use a palette knife or butter knife to spread over top of cake, allowing icing to fall gently down the side. Dust with icing sugar to serve.