CookEat Recipe
German-Style Butter Cake
A plain butter-and-vanilla cake lightened with whipped egg whites and baking powder, cooled before serving.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 250 g fine plain wheat flour; 105 g butter: 100 g for the batter and 5 g for the tin; 100 g caster sugar; 4 eggs, separated; 4 tablespoons milk, about 60 ml; 1 teaspoon finely ground vanilla sugar; 10 g baking powder.
Step 2
Grease a smooth round metal tin about 20 cm across and 8 cm deep with 5 g butter; do not flour it. Heat the oven to 170°C. Beat the remaining 100 g softened butter, caster sugar and four yolks together until very pale and light, about 30 minutes by hand or 8–10 minutes with an electric whisk.
Step 3
Work in the flour, milk and vanilla sugar thoroughly until smooth. Whisk the four whites in a clean bowl to firm peaks. Fold them gently into the batter, sifting the baking powder in during the final folds so it is evenly distributed.
Step 4
Pour immediately into the greased tin. The tin should hold at least twice the volume of the unbaked batter; if necessary, use a larger smooth tin rather than filling it above halfway. Bake for about 35–45 minutes, until risen and golden and a wooden skewer comes out without wet batter.
Step 5
Let cool in the tin for about 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely before serving plain in slices. No icing or glaze is added.
Step 6
For the alternative leavener given in the original, omit the 10 g baking powder and mix 5 g bicarbonate of soda with 5 g cream of tartar. Sift this mixture into the same batter with the whipped whites, bake immediately and follow the same doneness checks. This historical mixture is an alternative formulation, not a claim that it is chemically identical to every modern baking powder.
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