ONE BOWL BUTTER CAKE

An Old Fashion 

One Bowl Butter Cake

which I learned from my father's friend

Tan Kim Yew, whom we fondly called 大人

He would come on a motorbike
 with his wife riding behind

balancing a big clay tub on her lap

inside which held a 'baseball bat'

He creamed the butter and sugar together 

with the baseball bat in the clay tub, 

until light and fluffy

Vanilla Essence was added at this stage
(Sometimes forgot & not added)

Eggs were added one by one 
with each one well mixed into the butter cream

Flour was first sifted
& 
added to the mixture alternating with the eggs

Milk was only added
if the batter was too thick
and could not drop at the count of 3

Just these few simple steps 

and the cake would be ready after baking 

in preheated oven of 160'C-170'C for about an hour!

Simple
Not many things to wash
so

I made this butter cake, again and again

This is his recipe :

Ingredients:

250g butter, at room temperature
180g caster sugar
250g self raising flour, sifted (or plain flour+2 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 AA eggs
1/4 cup milk, to adjust batter to dropping consistency

Sometimes

he would impress us with 

chocolate flavor as follows:

He would take out some of the plain batter

sifted in some cocoa powder
mix well
adding more if necessary
until the required chocolate colour is reached

And 
all of us would be so happy

 to have a chocolate marble cake!

Method:

1) cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy

2) while creaming the butter, beat eggs with a hand beater until foamy

3) add vanilla essence to creamed butter

4) add 1/3 egg to creamed butter, mix well, fold in 1/3 flour

5) alternate with 1/3 eggs & flour, mix well after each addition

6) when all ingredients have been added, check consistency

7) scoop & drop batter at the count of 3

8) if batter does not drop down at the count of 3, add milk by the Tbsps

9) bake @ bottom rack in preheated oven 170'C for 40-60min

Note:

1) Batter is enough for 2 small bread tin

2) If batter is over mixed, the cake will have a doomed top

3) do not use black baking pan, over browning of cake at sides & bottom

4) for a moist cake, have a small tray of water @ bottom of oven