42 | 52 Old-Fashioned Sugar Cake

Sometimes you just need comfort.

And yes, sometimes that comfort comes in the shape of butter and sugar.

Like in this Old-Fashioned Sugar Cake.

It's sweet and buttery and just makes you feel good.

But only if you can shut off those voices in your head telling you how bad it might be for you.

Hey - it's not like you're eating the whole thing. 

Plus, you can eat veggies for the rest of the day.

So - just enjoy it. And be old-fashioned. 

Which in this case means that there's nothing wrong with a little (or a lot of) butter and sugar.

Old-Fashioned Sugar Cake

Adapted from Dr. Oetker's Backen macht Freude (but my Grandma's edition from 1952)

For the cake

200 g (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) butter, room temperature

200 g (1 cup) sugar

2 eggs

pintch of salt

500 g (3 3/4 cups) flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

250 ml (1 cup) milk

For the topping

50 g (1/4 cup) butter

50 g (1/4 cup) sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

50 g (1.75 oz) almonds or hazelnuts, slivered or chopped

• Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).
• For the cake, combine flour and baking powder. 
• Cream butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add sugar, eggs, and salt. Add flour mix, alternating with milk. The batter should be heavy/ripping when falling off a spoon so you might not need all the milk.
• Pour into prepared (springform) pan.
• For the topping, put butter in small flakes on the dough. Combine sugar, vanilla, and nuts and combine evenly on top of the cake.
• Bake for 25 minutes.

My modifications:

I used a round springform pan instead of a baking sheet and I would do it like this again because it had the perfect height. I also used slivered almonds, not chopped ones like stated in the original recipe and I really liked it like that.

The taste:

Like its name: old-fashioned, sugary, buttery. It might remind you of your granny's baking. In the best way possible.

What old-fashioned recipes are your favorite?