Cinnamon Tea Cake

Recipe courtesy of RecipeTin Eats: Tonight by Nagi Maehashi, published by Macmillan Australia, RRP: $54.99, photography by Nagi Maehashi

This is a great one to have up your sleeve for those times you want to knock out a cake without having to make a trip to the shops first. It’s made solely from ingredients you’ll have on hand, but still holds its own as a charming treat to serve with tea and coffee. Glazed with vanilla icing and with cinnamon sugar swirled through, it’s reminiscent of a classic cinnamon roll, but in cake form! Unlike the pastry, there’s no dough to rise here so it’s much quicker to put together. A word of warning: this little number is quite sweet! Much like a cinnamon roll, really. And don’t we just love that about them?

SERVES: 8–12 | PREP: 20 MINUTES | COOK: 40 MINUTES

Ingredients

• 2 cups (300 g) plain flour
• 4 tsp baking powder*1
• 1/8 tsp cooking salt*
• 125 g unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup (150 g) caster sugar
• 2 large eggs*, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup (170 ml) full-fat milk, at room temperature

CINNAMON BUTTER SWIRL

• 3/4 tightly packed cup (150 g) brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 75 g unsalted butter, melted

VANILLA GLAZE

• 1 cup (125 g) soft icing sugar*, sifted
• 5–6 tsp full-fat milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Grease a 23 cm springform tin2 with butter, then line with baking paper.

Cinnamon butter swirl – Mix the cinnamon swirl ingredients in a bowl until combined.

Cake batter – Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl to combine. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, using hand-held electric beaters or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium–high speed for 1 minute or until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined. Add the vanilla, then half the flour mixture and half the milk. Beat on medium speed until the flour is just about mixed in, then stop beating, even if the batter is lumpy. Add the remaining milk and flour mixture, then beat on medium speed until the batter is lump-free – but no matter what, do not beat longer than 15 seconds*.

Swirls* – Spread half the batter in the tin (it will be a fairly thin layer). Using half the cinnamon butter, create eight dollops across the surface of the cake. Drag a butter knife through the batter in large ‘S’ shapes, going through each dollop twice. Dollop, then spread the remaining cake batter across the surface. Dot the surface with eight dollops using the remaining cinnamon butter. Swirl through the batter in ‘S’ shapes, sticking the butter knife only halfway through the batter.

Bake – Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean and the top is golden with lots of lovely cracks for the glaze to seep into. Serious cinnamon roll vibes!

Cool the cake for 10 minutes in the tin, then pour the glaze over (see below for glaze directions). Leave to cool for another 15 minutes or until the surface of the glaze has set.

Release the side of the tin and cut the cake into generous slices. It will still be warm. The cake must always be served warm!

Glaze* – Whisk the ingredients in a bowl, starting with 5 teaspoons of milk. Add the extra teaspoon only if needed to thin the glaze into a drizzling consistency.

NOTES

1. Dead baking powder is a common baking fail – expiry dates on jars are misleading! See Baking powder testing in the Glossary (page 337).

2. This cake can be made in a 20 cm tin. Increase the baking time by 15 minutes.

3. Cap your final beating time to 15 seconds to ensure your cake doesn’t come out dry!

4. Swirling tips: don’t aim for perfection. There’s no point because it will look completely different once baked! Limit the swirling time to 15 seconds for each layer. Any longer and the cake may not rise as much as it should!

5. Don’t leave the glaze lying around in the bowl or the surface will form a crust.

LEFTOVERS Fridge 5 days, freezer 3 months. Always serve warm!