Classic butter and vanilla cake

Some cakes have special ingredients, and then there's this one: butter, sugar, eggs, flour and vanilla. The teatime cake we grew up with.

It's the first one I learnt to make properly and the one I recommend to anyone with a brand new mould. With so few ingredients there's nowhere to hide: if it turns out well, it's because you got the creaming right. And once you've mastered it, it's the base for a hundred variations.

It's also the one that shows off the pattern of the mould best. The crumb is fine and close, so every detail comes out crisp.

Jump to the recipe

Creaming, or why there's no rush

Beating the butter and sugar for 4 to 6 minutes seems excessive. It isn't. The sugar crystals open up thousands of air bubbles in the butter, and those bubbles are what later make the cake rise.

You'll know it's ready when the mixture has gone from yellow to almost white, is creamy and has gained volume. With cold butter you won't get there: it needs to be soft enough for your finger to sink in without any effort.

The recipe: Classic butter and vanilla cake

• Prep: 15 to 20 minutes
• Baking: 40 to 45 minutes in a 2 L tin; 50 to 60 minutes in a 2.5 L tin
• Rest before turning out: 10 minutes
• Serves: 10 to 12 (2 L); 14 to 16 (2.5 L)
• Tin: Any of our decorative moulds, using the quantities for its size

Ingredients

For the tin: softened butter and 1 tablespoon of plain flour.

Method

Before you start

1. Take everything out of the fridge. The butter, eggs and milk, at least an hour beforehand. It's what makes the creaming work and stops the batter from curdling.
2. Prepare the tin. Brush the whole inside with softened butter, covering every detail of the pattern and the central tube well. Dust with the flour, turn the tin and tap out the excess upside down.
3. Preheat the oven. To 180 °C, top and bottom heat, no fan. Put the shelf in the middle or slightly lower.
4. Sift the dry ingredients. The flour with the baking powder and the pinch of salt. Set aside.

The batter

5. Creaming. Beat the butter and sugar for 4 to 6 minutes on medium-high, with the paddle or the whisk, until the mixture is very pale, creamy and increased in volume. Halfway through, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
6. The eggs, one at a time. Add one egg and beat for about 2 minutes on medium before adding the next. That way the emulsion holds and the batter traps air without curdling.
7. The vanilla. Add it and mix it in on low speed.
8. Dry ingredients and milk, alternately. On the lowest speed or with a spatula: half the flour, then the milk and finally the rest of the flour. Stop as soon as there are no dry patches left. Overmixing makes the crumb tough.

Filling and baking

9. Into the tin. The batter is thick and won't level itself. Spread it with a spatula, pushing it into the pattern, and smooth the top. Tap the tin gently on the worktop a couple of times to knock out any big bubbles.
10. Bake. At 180 °C: 40 to 45 minutes in a 1.8 to 2 litre tin and 50 to 60 minutes in a 2.5 litre one. Test the centre with a cocktail stick from 40 minutes (or 50 in the larger tin): it's ready when it comes out clean and dry.
11. Ten minutes, then turn it out. Leave the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Put the rack on top, flip it confidently and lift off the tin. Let it cool completely before slicing or decorating.

Notes and tips

If the mixture curdles when you add the eggs. It happens when they're cold or go in too quickly. Add a spoonful of the flour from the recipe, beat for a minute and it will come back together.

Three easy variations. The zest of a lemon or an orange in the creaming. A tablespoon of rum with the vanilla. Or 100 g chocolate chips, tossed in flour, at the end of mixing.

A simple icing. 100 g icing sugar with 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk or lemon juice, over the cooled cake.

Don't use the smaller quantities in a 2.5 L tin. You'd get a squat cake: the pattern still shows, but it loses height and dries out sooner.

Storage

• It keeps for 4 days at room temperature in an airtight container.
• Avoid the fridge: the butter hardens and the crumb seems dry. If you've kept it chilled, take it out half an hour beforehand.
• To freeze, in slices wrapped in cling film, for up to 3 months.

Which tin to use

This is the recipe that works in all our decorative moulds. Only the quantity changes, which is why there are two columns in the ingredients.

Quantities for 1.8 to 2 litres for the Espiral, Cascada and Amour.

Quantities for 2.5 litres for the Clásico, Bloom, Flow, Blaze, Plait, Twist, Gleam, Flare and Vortex.

Whatever the mould, fill it no more than two-thirds full. In our guide to tin capacities and conversions you'll find the volume of each one.

What I used

• The Twist mould, 2.5 litres, in cast aluminium with a double non-stick coating. With such a fine crumb, its spiral comes out perfectly.
• The set of baking trays with rack. The rack is where the cake spends its ten minutes before turning out, and where it cools afterwards, with air circulating underneath.
• An olive wood board or a teak board to bring it to the table and slice it in front of everyone.
• A pastry brush. If your tin has a few years behind it, have a look at how to look after the non-stick coating so it keeps releasing like the first day.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my butter cake dense? Almost always one of three things: creaming for too short a time, cold butter or eggs, or overmixing when you add the flour.

Can I use salted butter? Yes. In that case, leave out the pinch of salt.

Can I swap the butter for oil? Not in this recipe, because creaming needs a solid fat to trap air. If you want an oil-based cake, try the lemon and thyme cake or the chocolate cake.

How do I know the creaming is done? When the mixture has gone from yellow to almost white, has a creamy texture and has visibly gained volume. It usually takes 4 to 6 minutes.

Which quantities do I use for my mould? The 1.8 to 2 litre quantities for the Espiral, Cascada and Amour. The 2.5 litre quantities for the rest of our decorative moulds.