Spanish Cake (For Two)

 

 

Of all the cakes I have baked and eaten through the years my second favorite cake of all time has to be my Spanish Cake recipe.  It is so good that I remember once baking it three times in one week. 

This is second only to my first favorite which is a Victoria Sponge Cake.  I doubt that one will ever be knocked out of its "first place" spot in my life.  This Spanish cake is a close second however.

 

 

With there just being one of me now however, I doubt that I could, or would want to, eat a whole Spanish Cake.  Okay, in all honesty, I could.

It is that delicious. But would I want to?  No, it would add a bazillion inches to my already wide girth.  And so, since being on my own, I just have never  baked it.

 

Aside from the fact that I have type 2 Diabetes, I just don't need to be eating things like this in huge quantities.  But I also can't afford to have people over to eat whenever I decide I want a treat! (Limited income and all that.)

And so today I down-sized my Spanish Cake recipe to make a small delicious cake, perfectly sized for me, myself and I.  Also Eileen and Tim (my oldest daughter and her husband) are coming over a bit later so they can help to polish it off.

 

I am having a bit of a blue day today.  Doesn't help that it is raining cats and dogs, so it will be nice to see my girl and her boy.

They always cheer me up.  We will play some cards I think and then I will throw something together for our supper., and they can finish off the cake for dessert.  I doubt it will be a problem for them! 

 

I have no idea why this is called Spanish Cake. Only that that is its name, and that it is delicious.  Its a recipe which I had in my Big Blue Binder for years and years.

So long that I no longer remember where I got it from.  But the page is splattered and torn and fading, so you know its a good recipe. Well used.

 

I love simple butter cakes like this.  Simple ingredients, simply put together.  Delicious results.

You start by creaming together butter and sugar. You want your butter to be at room temperature, but not melting if you know what I mean.  I like to cream it by hand. 

 

That is the way our grandmother's would have done it, by hand, in a ceramic or an enamel bowl with a wooden spoon.  In baking creaming is a process whereby you mash/rub together two ingredients (usually sugar and fat) to get a thick, creamy homogenous paste.

This process is what helps the sugar to melt into the batter when making cakes and cookies. You don't want a gritty batter when you are making a cake or a cookie!

 

If your butter is cold from the fridge, just pop it into the microwave for 10 or 15 seconds.  Just don't melt it.

Once you have creamed your sugar and butter together, you can beat in the egg yolk.  This smaller version of the cake only takes one egg, and you will need to separate it. I use large free range eggs. 

 

I just use a wooden spoon for that as well.  I do confess I use my electric hand mixer to beat the egg white into submission!

Beating egg whites stiff by hand takes forever and I mean that with a capital "F."

  FOREVER!  I have been there and done that.  Your arms get a real workout!  

Our grandmothers did have hand beaters, that weren't electric, but trust me, even those take a long time!  They must have had really big strong muscles! 

 

I like to sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. That way the baking powder gets evenly mixed into the flour.  Then it is a matter of beating the flour into the batter alternately with the milk.

You need to start with and end with flour. Not sure why that is, but its the way it usually is with cakes. The egg white gets folded in last. 

 

Folding is a very precise action when it comes to baking and differs a great deal from stirring, or beating for that matter.  

In folding you are combining two ingredient with different textures together to make one homogenous batter.  In this case, the cake batter itself, which is thick  . . . 

 

And the egg whites which are fluffy and light.  I usually begin by stirring in about half of the whipped egg white to loosen the batter somewhat and then folding in the remaining white.

To fold something in you need to make sort of a cutting motion with your spoon, lifting and turning over the batter so as not to knock the air out of the whites.  This gives you a much higher rise in your cake and a lighter texture.

 

This cake has a beautiful moist crumb and texture, and yet is very light.  It is flavored highly with cinnamon. 

There is a full teaspoon of ground cinnamon in the full sized version, and half a teaspoon in this smaller version.  

 

I baked it in a heavy, 6-inch round, aluminum cake tin.  I picked it up at Winner's yesterday. I know I will use it a lot, and if you are wanting to follow my smaller sized recipes, you need to get one also! 

In fact I have ordered another one online as it will be the perfect size for making smaller layer cakes.  And I do plan on making more small sized recipes in the future as an ongoing thing.

The icing is a very simple make for this.  Melt butter and brown sugar together, add some milk, bring it to the boil and then beat in some icing sugar.  Easy peasy.

I have often used maple sugar rather than brown sugar with excellent results.  And it gives the cake a nice touch of maple flavor.  Today I added a few drops of Maple flavoring.

Just spread the icing over the cake and voila!  I have always, always added a scattering of chopped toasted walnuts on top myself. I like them and walnuts go very good with maple. 

In any case, Spanish Cake for two.  Enjoy!  Silly me, of course you will!  And if you are wanting the full recipe, check it out here.

Spanish Cake (For Two)

Yield: 4 (makes one 6-inch) cake

Author: Marie Rayner

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min

A lovely little cake flavored with cinnamon and topped with a lucious maple cream icing.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 70g of plain flour (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 60g of butter, at room temperature (1/4 cup)
• 95g of sugar (1/2 cup)
• 1 large free range egg, separated
• 60ml milk (1/4 cup)

For the icing:

• 30g butter (1/8 cup)
• 40g of maple sugar (1/4 cup, can use 1/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar)
• 1 TBS milk
• 65g of icing sugar (1/2cup)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 6-inch round baking tin and line the bottom with baking paper. Set aside.
2. Beat the egg WHITE until stiff and set aside.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg YOLK. 
4. Beat in the flour along with the milk making alternate additions. (3 dry and two wet) Mix well. Fold in the egg whites. 
5. Spread the batter in the prepared baking tin. Bake in the heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top bounces back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The cake should also have begun to pull away from the sides a bit. Remove from the oven. 
6. Cool in the pan for five minutes then tip out onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
7. Place the butter for the icing in a saucepan and melt. Add the maple sugar and heat gently over low heat for 2 minutes, until the sugar has melted. Add the milk. Bring to the boil, then remove from the stove and let cool. Beat in the icing sugar and spread onto the cooled cake.

Notes:

I like to sprinkle chopped toasted walnuts on top, but that is the Canadian in me liking the flavor of maple walnut.

Also if you don't have maple sugar and yet still want the flavor of maple, you can add a few drops of maple extract to the melted sugar/butter mixture for the frosting.

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