Old Fashioned Butter Cake Recipes

Can you remember the good old butter cake sold at the old Hainanese coffee shops in the small towns of Malaysia? This kind of butter cake is very popular during Chinese New Year. I remember my mom used buy lots of it and we will have it a cup of kopi O (dark coffee) for breakfast or throughout the day and serve it to guest that come for a visit too. No one can resist a slice of good butter cake with nice soft texture that is light and not too dense. If I remember correctly there is a coffee shop in Kajang that runs by a few sisters still selling this type of butter cake and also Yut Kee, at Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur. I think Yut Kee butter cake and kaya swiss roll are the best. They sell the whole cake or by the slice.

A friend of mine from Malaysia shares this recipe with me years ago and I’ve written it in my note book and forgotten all about. I was clearing up my book shelves and found the note book again and there was this recipe. The recipe said to use margarine but since margarine is not so favorable in my book so I replaced it with butter. For best results you need to use pure butter. You can either use Golden Churn or Lupak. I should have used the 9” cake pan  instead of an 8” pan and as you can see I over baked it a bit. So how do I like this butter cake? Taste wise it was pretty good, not too dense and with very fine crumbs. The next time I bake this it will be in a bigger pan.

Ingredients:

350 grm butter
280 grm sugar
8 large eggs, separate the yolk and white
330 grm self rising flour
½ tsp salt
50 ml milk


1. Line and greased a 9” or 10” baking pan. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degree F. Sieve the flour and salt and set it aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scrapping down the side a couple of times. Add in the yolk one at a time. Beat well after adding each one. Then add in the milk.
3. Fold in the flour in 3 batches. Mix well and set it aside.
4. In another clean bowl, whisk egg white on high speed until soft peaks. Fold in the egg whites into the butter mixture until well blended. Do not over-do it or the egg whites will deflate.
5. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for an hour or until the skewer comes out clean when tested.

Note: For the marbling effect, melt 2 oz of dark chocolate and mix it with 3 tbsp of the cake batter. Dollop it on top of the cake and give it a few swirl with a fork. For citrusy flavor you can replace the milk with orange juice or lemon juice.