Golden Luxury Butter Cake by Rose Levy

Its been a long break,  finally got around baking yesterday night, though i must say my baking skills and photos taking had gone downhill tremendously. Forgive me for the bad photos. (there are only 2 passable photos the rest are considered rejected photos)

Rose Levy's Cake Bible has tons of cakes i wana try out, last night i settled on this Golden Luxury Butter Cake.The reason why this cake caught my eye was the way Rose described it and the magical ingredient in the recipe.However, despite all, i found the cake unsatisfactory, although it has really soft and crumbly texture.

This recipe used a huge amount of baking powder, so if you do bake this do not use a bundt pan like me as the batter will raise very high and will look out of shape just like mine in the center.
So you wana know the magical ingredient? Take a look at the quote from Rose:

No one would ever guess that white chocolate is one of the ingredients in this cake. The addition of real white chocolate (the kind which contains cocoa butter) to a cake adds a velvety texture, deepens the yellow color, and heightens the melt-in-mouth quality. This is because cocoa butter is very firm at room temperature but melts faster then butter at body temperature. Cocoa butter is also a splendid emulsifier and is responsible for the extra smoothness of the batter and the velvety grain of the baked cake. The slight acidity of the cocoa butter, together with the milk solids in the chocolate, perfumes the cake with an almost lemony edge. Accentuate this flavor with a lemon buttercream.

Now if you are asking me is there any lemon edge in this cake, i would tell you no, the cake smells of vanilla only and i deem it only a normal butter cake with a soft and crumbly texture that's all. Here's the last photo for this post. Do try it if you can and let me know your reviews.

Now looking closely don't you find the cake texture albeit bread like?

GOLDEN LUXURY BUTTER CAKE
(serves 12)
(adapted and modified from Rose Levy's Cake Bible)

INGREDIENTS (Room Temperature)	MEASURE (Volume)	WEIGHT
White Chocolate		170 grams
6 large egg yolks		112 grams
Milk	1 liquid cup	242 grams
Vanilla	1 1/2 teaspoons	6 grams
Sifted Cake Flour	3 cups	300 grams
Sugar	1 cup + 3 tablespoons	240 grams  (reduced to 180grams)
Baking Powder	1 tablespoon + 1 1/2 tsps	22 grams
Unsalted Butter, softened	9 tablespoons	128 grams

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease and line two 9” cake pans.
2. In a double boiler melt the chocolate over hot water, stirring frequently. Remove from the water. In a medium bowl lightly combine the yolks, 1/4 cup milk and vanilla. 
3. In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30s to blend. Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk. 
4. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 1/2mins to aerate and develop the cake’s structure. Scrape down the sides. Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20s after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. 
5. Scrape down the sides, add the melted chocolate and beat to incorporate. Scrape batter into the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake 25 – 35mins or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. 
6. Let the cakes cool in the pans on rack for 10mins. Loosen the sides with a small metal spatula and invert onto greased wire racks. To prevent splitting, reinvert so that the tops are up and cool completely before wrapping airtight.

Store

Airtight: 2 days room temperature, 5 days refrigerated, 2 months frozen.

Texture is most perfectly moist the same day as baking.

Serve: Room Temperature