The motivation behind this cake – was a donut.
The motivation behind the coconut lemon curd – was a lack of tastiness.
Let me rewind.
So, Saturday last week, I awoke, slightly worse for the wear after… let’s call it, an enthusiastic Friday night.
The only solution was – brunch. And grocery shopping. Because I had to make food. And get on with my day. Because no matter how you feel – you gotta get shit done. Coz you’re an ADULT. See here for inspiration.
So, in my mind I had a game plan. I was gonna go, get the freaking groceries and get a donut from Starbucks. A glazed old-fashioned donut with a cup of black coffee. And life would be beautiful.
After getting all them groceries and ambling over to Starbucks, the semi-polite barista informed me they were out of donuts.
WHAT???
Since my entire plan for happiness, that Saturday, was precariously hinged on whether I not I ate that donut, I left said Starbucks knowing that all hope was lost.
I had nothing else to do but make butter cake.
Also I bought a lot of eggs. Butter cake requires many eggs.
I would like to tell you that after I hate-baked this cake I discovered that it was quite dry. This may be because I baked it like 10 minutes more than the recommended time. The batter was still jiggling – OK? The only thing I could do – obviously – was to then make lemon curd to go with it.
When life gives you lemons…
Butter Cake
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature – I used salted because I didn’t have unsalted. Don’t judge.
1 + 2/3 cup / 200gm all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup / 200gm castor sugar
4 eggs
½ tsp salt
4 Tbsps yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.
Grease a loaf pan with butter, line with parchment paper, and grease that. Foolproof dudes. Use this method when baking.
Sieve the flour and baking powder together, stir in the salt.
Use an electronic mixer, unless you want to hate your life, to cream the butter and sugar together until pale yellow in color.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.
Fold in the flour. I did this by spooning the flour in and making a “figure 8” shape with my spatula. Mel told me to do this. It worked.
Add in the yogurt and mix.
Pour mixture into the baking pan and smooth down with a knife.
Bake until golden brown and no longer jiggly! About 40 minutes. Use a cake tester to see if cooked.
Reading this recipe properly now, I realize I baked it at the wrong temperature, so 40 minutes might actually work.
Coconut Lemon Curd
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (approximately the juice of 1 lemon)
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (approximately the zest of 1 lemon)
1/3 cup / 70gm sugar
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup / 60g unsalted butter, cubed
4 Tbsps coconut milk
Measure out the lemon juice, zest and sugar into a saucepan. Cook over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves completely.
Whisk egg yolks in a medium heatproof bowl until frothy and add the hot lemon mixture slowly. Whisk continuously to combine. Strain the mixture through a mesh sieve.
Return to the heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water. Cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture sticks to the back of a wooden spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil.
Remove from the heat and add the butter cubes, whisking until fully combined.
Finally, add the coconut milk and whisk to combine.
Set aside to cool. Should keep in the fridge for about a week.
*Butter Cake and Coconut Lemon Curd from Rasa Malaysia.
Funny thing about this cake and lemon curd was, I really thought it was just kind of blahhhh but my flatmates ate it all. I guess one person’s butter cake can be another person’s chocolate chip cookie.
diniblini.wordpress.com 