# 9 : Butter Cake

Others: Cake? U? R u sure u wanna do it?

Mom  : Let her..

Me     : Absolutely!!! :)

I have seen mom bake some amazing cakes & pastries. Cakes like butter cake, sponge cake, marble cake, oil cake, vegetarian cake, Pineapple cake, mermaid cake, humpty dumpty cake, rabbit cake, basket cake... WOW!

The inclination to cook comes with the desire to be able to bake cakes & cookies, and prepare puddings, ice-creams etc.. Somehow, i have understood the natural psyche of anyone who wishes to cook..wants to first be able to make those wonderful desserts even before being able to cook some steam rice or even boil eggs.. LOL!!! At least that's the story  of most of the people i know in and around me and who i have come to meet over a period of time by sharing similar interests..  :)

I have baked cakes under my mother's supervision for Christmas & new year almost for the past couple of years.. But never seem to have registered the recipe or the technique that well. May be it was also, coz i wanted my family to know i baked a cake more than the registering all those key point she always told me.. you know the " mother's secret potion" into all that they end up preparing... ;)

I am a li'l superstitious about clicking pictures while preparing the desserts.. So...Sorry to disappoint but i dint quiet click pictures.. :P .. and ya before i could click the picture of the final outcome.. even the debris of the cake was missing... ;)

M not blowing my own trumpet!!! but its funny that for the first time after a series of flops in baking cakes at this new place by my mom, family & friends...my baking a cake for the 1st time and it turning out to be a cake was something i guess we all enjoyed and thus... u know... ;)

I plan to bake it yet again & next time its gonna be with icing.. so i shall put up the pics.. ;)

Going on to the recipe...

Ingredients:

1. Eggs - 4
2. Butter - 250 gms
3. Maida / all purpose flour - 250 gms
4. Sugar - 250 gms
5. Baking Powder - 1 tsp
6. Vanilla Essence - 8 drops
7. Raisins/ Dried fruits - a handful
8. Lime- 1

Procedure:

I am putting down the procedure in points as that how i think one should work around baking a cake! :)

1. Add baking powder to the maida & sieve it together a couple of times.
2. Grind the sugar and keep aside.
3. Now, take the eggs and separate the yokes from the whites. Make sure the yoke does not break. In case it does just don't bother separating it. You can still get a beautiful cake..:) ( i simply feel baking a cake by separating the whites and yokes makes it a lot more softer..and thus like baking the tedious way.. ;)
4. Beat up the egg whites separately and let it froth. Once its froths up, add some powdered sugar to check for the consistency of the white. The consistency should be such that there should be no water seeping out of the mixture. Now, beat up the yokes separately. Add a bit of lime to it (helps remove the odour! ). And beat it up.
5. Take the bowl with butter, and dab a li'l butter into the baking bowl and spread evenly. Sprinkle some maida into the bowl and toss the same evenly such that the bowl is lined well with the flour.

Now beat the butter a li'l before adding the remaining sugar. Beat the two together. Make sure while beating the batter the movement should always be in one direction... either clock-wise or anti clock-wise..never both.. it creates air bubbles and ruins the batter!!! After beating the sugar & butter, add the beaten yokes to it. and beat it up!

Now start folding the batter with your hand by adding li'l maida spoons & egg whites. Its just folding all the way now and not vigorously mixing and beating them all... Once done add the vanilla essence and raisins and yet again fold the batter together.

Pour the batter into the lined bowl and using a pin..prick into the bowl randomly...

Place the bowl in a pre-heated oven, 180 degree for 45 mins.

You can also bake he cake in a cooker by placing the bowl directly into the cooker and keeping it on low flame for an hour. (This is how i went ahead!.. )

THE CAKE is ready!

Hope you njoi baking it as much as i did... ;)


P.S: Baking with the eggs not separated is also cool. All u gotta do is beat the sugar and butter together and later add the full eggs to the mix and beat well. Only later should you add the maida and fold the batter. Add the vanilla essence and lime at this point.. Your cake is still gonna turn out to be amazing.. :)