FRUITY BUTTER CAKE

Fruity Butter Cake

I have always loved butter cakes, but in the past the cakes I baked were hard and dry. I tried different recipes, yet the results were always the same.... until I found a tip from a baker in a Facebook group. After that my butter cakes, whether plain or fruity, turn out soft and no longer dry ^o^.  I shall share the tips here in my post.

Butter Cake Recipe

(A)
250g low protein flour (I mixed 100g plain flour + 150g low protein flour for fruity cakes)
3g baking powder

(B)
250g salted butter, softened and cubed (just use all of the 250g block. It is fine if the net weight is slightly less)
180g fine sugar

(C)
5 eggs

(D)
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
50ml fresh milk (I used full cream milk)

(E)
Fruits of your choice. I chose strawberries (sliced), blueberries and golden kiwis (sliced).

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease 6" or 8" pan or lay with non-stick baking paper. (I use the butter foil to grease my pans.)

2. Using electric beaters, cream butter and sugar at HIGH speed until light. It is necessary to scape the down the sides a few times to ensure all sugar is well beaten. It is done when there is no grainy feel and the butter looks like cream with a lighter shade. I took about 5 min to get it.

3. Sift (A) once. 
4. Add about 1 tablespoon of sifted (A) into the butter. Introduce one whole egg. Using SLOW speed, beat until the egg is fully mixed into batter. Adding some flour will prevent the batter from curdling.

5. Repeat step 4 until all the eggs are added.
6. Add in vanilla essence.
7. Scrape down the sides and beat batter at MEDIUM speed for about 2 min.
8. Pour in half of remaining (A) and beat at SLOW speed for 30 seconds. 
9. Immediately pour in all the milk and beat for 30 seconds.
10. Pour in all the remaining (A) and beat for 30 seconds.
11. Scrape down the sides of batter. Turn to MEDIUM speed and beat for about 1 min.
12. Pour in half the batter into pan. Lay fruits. (In one of the cakes, I added some berry jam too)

11. Pour remaining batter into pan. Level and smooth top. Gently knock the pan a few times to ensure there will not be hollow spaces in the cake. Design the top with fruits again. Do not press down the fruits.

12. Bake for about 40 min or until inserted skewer comes out clean in the middle.
13. Cool the cake in pan for about 10 min. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

 As the batter rises during baking process, the fruits will be covered slightly

After baking a few rounds of this type of cake, I notice that the more fruits I add, the longer the time I need to bake the cake. Above design took me 1hr 20 min!

 I added some jam to this batch. Look at the juice!!

This design took me 70min.

 This 8 inch square design took me 40min.

Verdict:

Soft and moist with the juices of fruits and jam. My boys do not like plain butter cakes, but they can gobble this in no time (I am guilty of this too >,<)

I feel that citrus fruits are more suitable. Blueberry is a good choice as it melts inside the cake.