My friend, Rebecca Ngee put up a photo of her brandy butter cake and pique my interest in making one too. The decision to make this the next bake was easy to make. Everyone loves butter cakes, and my hubby loves hard liquor in any dessert. So, I was prepared to just make a brandy butter and then use one of my fail-proof butter cake recipe.
But I read about Mrs Ng SK’s famous butter cake and thought I’d give it a shot. On examining the recipe and method, I found that it is pretty much the same as the ones that most Indonesians do, like the walnut chocolate cakes. It uses two cake making methods: creaming and whipping and an over-proportioned of butter. So instead of equal proportions of butter, sugar and flour, an additional 20% of butter is added.
The result is a cake is moister than most butter cakes, and also more fragrant.
So yeah. Here is my brandy butter cake. It is heavenly, a recipe that is validated by generations of Indonesians, and now enjoyed by even more through the effort of Mrs Ng.
Have fun baking!
PS. I did not copy Mrs Ng’s recipe. The whole recipe was redone in my own kitchen.
No crack cake
Some people like the rustic look of a cracked butter cake, some like it smooth and even at the top. I have mood. Sometimes, I like a smooth surface, sometimes, I don’t mind having some cracks, especially if I am rushing for time.
To have a cracked cake, then crank up to 180°C and bake it on the middle to high rack for 30 minutes or so.
To have a smooth cake, then follow the instructions below. For me, a cracked cake looks better in a loaf pan. For a bigger cake, it looks more presentable neat and tidy.
Evenly baked cake
To have an evenly baked cake, do it in a moderate oven, and make sure the oven temperature is even before putting the cake in. I like to use self-raising flour, because the leaven is properly distributed. Self-raising flour is also a low-gluten flour, so it makes the cake really short and melt-in-the-mouth. If you use cake flour or plain flour, then make sure the baking powder and soda are well mixed and sifted.
I don’t sift my flour if I use self-raising flour.
An evenly baked cake looks like this:
butter cake
Brandy Butter Cake
Ingredients
Brandy Butter Cream
- Up to 250g Unsalted butter at room temperature sometimes, I use 200g when I feel like it
- 100 g Raw Sugar
- 160 ml Brandy
- 4 egg yolks
- 200 g Self-raising flour
Meringue
- 4 egg whites
- 80 g Raw Caster Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Brandy Butter Cream
- Cream butter and sugar until almost white, and then add in the brandy.
- Add eggs one at a time, waiting for each egg yolk to emulsify before adding the next.
Meringue
- Beat the egg whites with the caster sugar until medium to stiff peak.
Combine and bake
- Combine the flour, cream and meringue 1/3 at a time, folding in the flour.
- Line a loaf pan or a 14cm round pan with parchment paper.
- Pour batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes on a middle to low rack.
- Crank the temperature up to 190°C for the last 10 minutes.
