This recipe is close to my family’s heart as it was the recipe of my mom’s best friend, Madelein Brooks.

This butter cake is what my sister and I made on a Sunday for dessert. The birthday cake for everyone in the family that don’t like chocolate cake and the cake we use to make the family customised trifle, just to mention a few.

A lot of responsibility rested on this recipe and it very rarely disappoints. It is perfect for a kid’s birthday party where you want a big cake with minimum effort and cost.

Madelein’s Butter cake

Ingredients
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Butter or Margarine
4 Eggs
3 cups Cake Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 ¾ cups Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
Pinch of salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180 ⁰C
1.   Cream the sugar and the butter in a big mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2.   Add the eggs one by one to the sugar mixture while whisking well after each addition.
3.   Sift into the mixture: the flour, baking powder and salt.
4.   Add the milk and the vanilla.
5.   Whisk until mixture are smooth, starting out on a slow mixing speed.
6.   If the mixture is to stiff, you can add more milk.
7.   Pour mixture equally into two greased cake pans.
8.   Bake for 45 mins or when golden brown.
9.   Let the cake stand for 5 minutes before turning out on a wire rack for cooling.
Tip:  Put a damp tea cloth over the cake once removed from the oven. This will help to level out the cake.
10.   Once cooled ice with buttercream icing.
11.   Variations: I iced this cake with buttercream icing and layered with berry compote.