Rosemary Lemon Cake with Sea Salt

Salt isn't an ingredient that is usually associated with desserts. Sure, practically every cake and pastry recipe includes the customary pinch of salt which is supposed to enhance and awaken inherent flavours. Try making a chocolate cake WITHOUT salt: it really does taste quite flat. Add a pinch or two of salt, about a teaspoon, and the chocolate comes alive.

Salt is essential in desserts but with a pinch, we don't actually taste the salt.

What if we add more than a pinch? What if we want to taste the salt to contrast against the sweet? Salty desserts are nothing new: salted caramel desserts have become the rage over the last couple of years, but Asian desserts have long played up the salty/sweet contrast: one of my favourites is Tau Sar Piah, a deliciously flaky pastry stuffed with a sweet/savoury mung bean paste. Another is the Thai sticky rice and mango pudding: the sweet and salty sticky rice that's drenched in coconut milk and eaten with sweet mango? Oh ... so delicious. 

A while ago at a food fair I participated in with Jane of The Wayward Oven and Sree, another friend (we sold sliders - nothing sweet about them!), I had the chance of sampling a Rosemary and Maldon Sea Salt yellow cake baked expertly by the fabulous baker boys of Just Heavenly. The cake literally blew me away. I didn't ask for the recipe, of course, but I've been thinking about it ever since that fateful day last September. Yeah, that's a long time to be thinking about one cake!

Last week, I decided to try adding the same flavours in a lemon butter cake. 

The cake turned out super! 

I had to make it twice to get the right amount of rosemary and salt to balance the sweetness of the lemon and the richness of the butter. The first time around, I didn't quite use enough rosemary: I stinged as I was afraid the strong taste of the herb might overpower the cake. It didn't. It was barely discernable and so I doubled the amount, using two sprigs instead of just one. 

The flavour of the rosemary is subtle, giving the cake just a little kick with its of fresh, piney taste while the salt not only gives you an unexpected hit but also cuts through the richness of the butter in the cake. 

Texturally, sprinkling the sea salt on the cake adds not just flavour but texture to the crust... and who doesn't love a delicious crust on a butter cake? I used the Fleur de Sel de Camargue which Ivy (The Hungry Caterpillar) bought for me from Europe some time back. I've been using it sparingly but this recipe called for the best. But, Maldon sea salt flakes (readily available at most big grocers here) works as well. Sea salt works better than table salt as it has a softer flavour that is more brine-y, less salty.

Rosemary Lemon Cake with Sea Salt

250g butter, softened

250g Castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

310g self raising flour

2/3 cup milk

zest of 1 lemon

2 sprigs rosemary

sea salt to sprinkle

For the glaze

1 lemon

1/2 cup icing sugar, sieved

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Line a loaf pan with grease proof paper and lightly rub the paper with butter.

Heat the milk, lemon zest and rosemary until the mixture begins to simmer. Take it off the heat and leave to cool, allowing the rosemary and zest to infuse into the milk (for at least 15 mins). When cool, strain the mixture and keep only the milk.

Cream the butter and the sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the extract and the eggs, one at a time and beat (on a lower speed) till incorporated. 

Add the flour and the milk, alternating between the two in three installments.

Pour the batter into the lined pan, smoothing the top and dropping the pan on the counter a couple of times to remove any air bubbles.

Sprinkle the top with sea salt.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Once the cake is out, prepare the glaze by just mixing the sugar in the lemon juice till smooth. Drizzle the glaze on top of the cake while it is warm.

Sprinkle a wee bit more sea salt on the glaze and leave to cool before removing from the pan.

Ricotta-Filled Butter Cake

 This is the second cake I've made using the two-stage mixing method popularised by Rose Levy Beranbaum, the Diva of Desserts (yes, before Nigella, there was Rose Beranbaum). And I am quite sure it won't be the last. Before I wax lyrical about the cake, let's talk about this two-stage mixing method that Beranbaum introduced.

This is going to get a little technical. 

Most cakes call for the fat (softened butter/shortening) to be creamed with the castor sugar until it gets pale, light and fluffy before adding the liquid components (egg, milk, etc)and the dry ingredients (flour, leavening agents, salt) into the fat. The liquids and flour are added alternately.


When the sugar is blended with the fat, the crystals cut through the fat and form holes which allow air to penetrate and expand in the oven. The next step — adding the flour and liquid alternately — aids in the gluten formation in the batter which gives the cake structure. This balances out the aeration from the first step. Seems perfect, right? I don't have a problem with this common method at all. In fact I use it all the time. 


So why another method? Well, not all cakes are made equal. Lets look at Beranbaum's method.

Beranbaum's two-stage mixing technique kind of transposes the proses. First, you whisk not your fat and sugar BUT all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, leavening agents). Then, you add the cold and only slightly softened butter until you get a mixture that has the texture of rough sand. Then you add the liquids.You can also add a quarter of the liquid along with the butter in which case you get a slightly sticky but still sandy dough. Finally you add the remaining liquid in two or three installments.

The result is a cake that doesn't rise (less aeration) as much but is extremely tender. Almost velvety. It melts in your mouth. Literally.This method is ideal when making layered cakes. You don't want stacks that are too high, right?

And now we come to this cake. The recipe isn't Beranbaum's but the method is. It's a basic butter cake with a ricotta cream filling, topped with buttercream. The cake is delicate and super soft but not terribly sweet. The sweetness comes from the buttercream but this is balanced by the creamy and more neutral ricotta frosting. 


Perfect for birthdays, anniversaries or just tea :)

Ricotta filled butter cake

For the cake

180g plain flour
140g cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
11/2 cups castor sugar
225g butter, cold and slightly softened, cut into cubes
11/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract

For the Ricotta filling

200g ricotta
4 tbsp icing sugar

For the buttercream

150 g butter
3 cups icing sugar 
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter and line two 9 inch pans. 


Put the flours, sugar, salt and the baking powder in the bowl of your stand mixer and whisk them together (using the paddle attachment). With the mixer on low to medium, add the butter and mix until the butter is coated with the flour. The mixture should look like coarse grains of sand or tiny pebbles. 


Meanwhile, beat the eggs, milk and extract together.


Add the egg mixture to the pebbled butter and flour mixture in three installments and beat only till incorporated. Don't over beat, yes?


Divide the batter into both pans and bake until set, about 30 mins (or until a tester comes out clean). Let the cakes cool in the pans for 15 mins and then transfer onto a cake rack to completely cool.


Now for the ricotta. Make sure the whey is drained from the cheese. Beat the cheese and sugar together till smooth. Remove.


Next the butter cream. Beat the butter until creamy and then add the sugar. Be careful: it may spray out of the bowl. Cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, adding the extract and as much milk as necessary to reach the right consistency. Set aside.


Once the cakes have cooled, remove the parchment paper and trim the tops till they're smooth. Spread the ricotta cream over the bottom layer, leaving a 1-2cm rim along the sides. Place the top layer on the cream and then ice the cake with the butter cream. 


Chill. Eat. Enjoy. 

Citrus Flavoured Butter Cake

My quest, for as long as I can remember, has been to make a perfect butter cake.

I love butter cakes more than any other cake on the planet. A simple butter cake — you know, the kind you have at birthday parties, iced with a delicious buttercream topping that's sweet and uncomplicated? A butter cake that is tender and moist?

Yup, butter cakes make me happy. It reminds me of my childhood, of family, of close friends and of happy occasions. No one mourns or sulks with butter cake. Nope, that's what ice cream and chocolate is for. Butter cakes are celebratory.

I've tried a number of recipes and while always tasty, they were never perfect. The texture was never just right, you know? A little dry, a little dense. A crumb that was too thick or not apparent enough. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Then I stumbled upon a recipe for Trish Boyle's Plainly Perfect Pound Cake. Now, I've never quite understood the difference between the two (the pound cake and butter cake). To my understanding, the difference is that a pound cake is supposed to be made with a pound of each of the main ingredients: flour, butter, sugar and eggs and if you adjust the quantities, you have to adjust them equally). Taste wise, I'd say the two are very similar, except that the pound cake is perhaps a little denser.

 Trish Boyle's Plainly Perfect Pound Cake is kinda like a pound cake (the measurements for all four ingredients are equal, almost) but it sure tastes like the butter cakes I grew up eating and still love to eat so much. If someone else has a better distinction between the two I'd be indebted to learn. :)

Apart from the four essential ingredients (flour, butter, sugar and eggs) and the leavening agent (baking powder), she also adds a small measure of heavy cream which gives the cake an obvious rich and creamy texture which I really adored.

The citrus accents from the zests of both oranges and lemons added a freshness to the cake that I welcomes.

Hers came plain, without any frosting which is fine but I decided to slather on a thin layer of butter cream frosting, also flavoured with the citrus zest.

Trish Boyle's Plainly Perfect Pound Cake
(adapted from Shirley of Kokken69)

200g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
226g butter (softened)
226g sugar (you don't have to be so precise; 200 or 250 is fine)
4 eggs
80ml heavy cream
1 tsp orange zest, or slightly more if desired
1 tsp lemon zest, or slightly more if desired
1 tsp vanilla essence

Topping (enough for only the top of the cake)
50g butter, softened
100g icing sugar, sieved

Preheat the oven to 170C

Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

Cream the butter until light and pale. Add the sugar and beat till light and fluffy, about 3 mins.

Add the eggs, one at a time and mix till well incorporated. Add the vanilla and the zests.

Lower the speed of the mixer and add the flour in three installments, alternating with the cream.

Pour batter into a greased/lined/greased and lined loaf pan.

Reduce the heat to 160C and bake for 60-70 mins or till a tester  inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, cream butter until light and add the sugar. Beat till fluffy. Chill for at least 30 mins. Remove and beat till soft (about 2 mins) and spread on the cake once it has cooled.