Cinnamon Butter Cake

I have been doing a bit of tidying up and sorting of photos and came across an envelope of photos of my nanna that had been sent to me by my aunt, prompting a bit of a trip down memory lane. My nanna was not a great cook and no one in my family looked forward to her cooking. However, she made a cake that I really loved and to the best of my knowledge it is the only cake that she made. Whenever I went to stay with her she would make the cake for me, it was always just baked and warm, the cinnamon smell wafting around the kitchen.  It is at least forty five years since I had this cake but my memories are of a cake that was rich and buttery and topped with a baked on cinnamon topping. I regret that I never got the recipe but what teenager thinks of getting their nan's recipes. She always baked it in a smallish square tin so the cake was thick and took a long time to bake. I used a large baking tin which results in a thinner cake that cooks a little more quickly.

This is my Nanny Maloney and me. 

And then some years later

Memory can be a tricky thing and this is not exactly as I remember it. Her cake was really moist and 'doughy', I suspect that it may have been somewhat undercooked.

Cinnamon Butter Cake

Cake 250 g soft butter 1 cup caster sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 eggs 2 cups SR flour 2 -4 tablespoons milk

Cinnamon Topping 2 tablespoons castor sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon Optional 2 teaspoons butter, cut into small pieces

Method

Preheat oven 170 deg C

Grease and line the cake tin.*

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add vanilla extract

Gradually add eggs, beating well

Stir in flour and milk alternately.  Approximately 1/3 at a time starting with flour

Spoon the cake mixture into prepared tin.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon for topping and sprinkle evenly over the cake mixture. Dot the surface with the extra butter

Bake at 170 deg C for ten minutes and then reduce heat to 160 deg C until cooked approximately 30 minutes depending on the size of the cake tin. The edges will shrink slightly from side of cake tin and a skewer comes out clean when tested in the middle. I prefer slightly undercooked.

Cake tin sizes

This mixture can be made in any size tin, the tin should be no more than two thirds to allow for the cake to rise. The deeper the tin the quicker the cake will cook.

20 cm square

22 cm round

Baking/roasting tin