A Butter inspired bake.

Crème Fraiche & Vanilla Loaf.

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Hello February Friends. I trust you are finding your feet in 2025 and holding on tight to all the promises you made yourself. My pledge to spend more time between paper pages of books instead of in front of a screen has been as mentally rewarding as an island retreat but so much more affordable.

Having been a voracious reader of fiction as a child, I graduated to fill my life with textbooks for study at college and university and then cookbooks and professional pastry tomes as an adult. I aspire to be my nine-year-old self, carefree and constantly checking out fourteen books at a time from the library. Whilst a girl can dream, these days, I have much more to do than covet a collection of bath pearls and add tag protectors to beanie babies. But I can at least allow myself a half an hour of escapism to a world that is not my own and I feel all the better for it.

A recent read inspires February’s recipe, the much-praised Butter by Asako Yuzuki. There is a lot to like about the book and it’s predominantly the prose on food that had me moving through the text. As a surprise to no one, I found the description of sweets and baked goods resonant enough to compel me to recreate them, a way to lose myself even more in the life of Riko and her investigation into the mind of Manako Kajii.

Fat is a theme throughout the book; the profoundly delicious language used to explore the virtues of fat when it comes to cooking and tasting, its saietieting effect and the pleasure it brings is juxtaposed with negative language and overtones used to discuss fat as it pertains to the female body. There’s judgement around the notions of overconsumption, gluttonous hunger and desire with instances of fatphobia and fat shaming. The contrasts are a reflection of modern society, its double standards and gender expectations. I’ve read criticism that many of these themes are underexplored and come off as a little cliché but my mind was not in want of something deeper and when I picked it up, it was just what I needed, the thriller element with vivid food vignettes made it a fun read and that’s what my mind needed.

At Kajimana’s suggestion, Rika attempts to make a classic quatre quarts cake for Valentines, equal parts butter, sugar, eggs and flour; a pound cake or Victoria Sponge by any other name. Whilst the recipe below does not follow those prescribed ratio’s, it does share the same characteristics, a close, velvety crumb that remains tender for a good few days yet has integrity enough to be toasted; a move that I highly recommend. It posseses the quintessential scent and taste of cake - butter, cream and vanilla, a comforting triad to anyone at anytime.

Have you read the book? If so I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you know of any other works of fiction that weave in wonderful food writing then let me know in the comments.

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Crème Fraiche & Vanilla Loaf

A versatile cake for consuming at all times, whether that is simply with an afternoon cup or tea or dressed for dessert with accompaniments. At this time of year I serve slices with whipped cream and citrus marmalades or toast slices (in the toaster or on a griddle) and serve with crème pâttissière and oven poached rhubarb.

Ingredients 
Makes 1 x loaf
(The tin used has a base measuring 10.5 x 3 and a top measuring 11.5 x 4 inches, with a depth 2.5. I have not tested it in a more standard 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, so if that is what you have adjust the baking time accordingly.)

170g unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
275g flour - soft wheat, sifted ( or 200g soft wheat + 75g wholemeal spelt)
8g baking powder
3g bicarbonate soda
2g fine sea salt
3 eggs (approx 166g total weight)
Seeds from ½ large plump vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract^
227g crème frâiche*

^I use ndali Vanilla, grown in Uganda, these beans are my favourite.

*My preferred crème fraiche comes in 200g pots in which case I make the 27g up with whole milk.*

Grease and line the tin and set the oven to 170 degrees C.

Put the butter in the bowl of a free standing mixer and beat with the paddle attachment until soft.

Add the caster sugar and continue to beat…and beat and beat, until light and fluffy, the yellow of the butter fading to milk tooth white. Be persistent and frequently stop to scrape down the sides and base of the bowl and every crevice of the paddle. Dilligence here will be rewarded and whilst tedious, it is worth the effort for a velvet crumb.

Whilst this is happening, measure the flour into a bowl, along with the raising agents and the salt, stir well to distribute, then sift once to ensure levity and remove any clumps. Measure the crème frâiche and add the vanilla to it.

When the butter and sugar are sufficiently creamed (I find it can take 10-15 minutes depending on the starting temperature of the butter and the room temperature (see tips below), crack the eggs into a jug and one at a time slip them into the bowl, beating in between each addition to incorporate.

Continue until all the egg has been added, scraping the sides and base of the bowl and paddle to encourage everything to emulsify evenly. If the mixture begins to curdle slightly add a tablespoon of your dry ingredients and beat on high to bring it back.

Add the dries alternately with the crème frâiche, finishing with the flour. Give the mixture one last beat on high for 5-8 seconds. 

Turn the mixture out into the prepared loaf tin. Spread out as evenly as possible then push the batter a little more towards the edges, leaving a slight crater down the centre of the cake.

Bake in a preheated over at 170 degrees C for 35 minutes, check and cover the top if the cake is browning too quickly. Continue to bake until the cake is firm to the touch in the centre and a skewer inserted comes out clean, total time approximately 55 minutes.

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A few pointers for better baking -

Ingredient temperature

The ideal temperature range for creaming butter is 15-20 degrees C. Below 15 degrees C it’s just going to take longer and once the butter goes over 20 degrees C it becomes too warm to retain air effectively.

Start with cooler room temperature butter. Beginning with butter that is too warm is an easy mistake to make when aiming for the ethereally ‘light and fluffy’ texture. I would sooner start out with slightly colder butter and work the mixer a little longer to be more in control of the process.

Dialing in ingredient temperature is one way to improve the results of your baking, the physical properties of ingredients are easily impacted by temperature and as such their potential to function and perform is also impacted.

You’ll be surprised how quickly butter can warm up once it's beaten about the bowl with sugar that is already warmer from ambient storage, add in energy transfer from an electric mixer and the degrees can soon go up. 

Butter that gets too warm during creaming is as likely to lead to dense, under-aerated crumb structures as not creaming butter and sugar enough in the first place. 

Insultating your cake pan

Loaf cakes like this one have a pretty long bake time, and one way to help prevent the sides from becoming too dark too quickly is to wrap the outside of the tin in a double layer of foil with the shiny side facing out. Some bakers go the extra mile and first layer in some damp paper towels. Either way the aim is to slow heat transfer to the cake and encourage more even baking. Do not wrap the foil too tightly, just tight enough to hold it in place and stop it being blown by the oven fan. The foil reflects heat back into the oven and the air trapped between the foil and the cake tin acts as insulation. These steps help to prevent the outside from overbaking before the inside is thoroughly baked.

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