Butter Cake (Malaysia Coffee Shop Favorite)

This all time favorite butter cake is still very popular in many old coffee shops in small towns of Malaysia. It is displayed in glass cabinet and sold in slices. During Chinese New Year this butter cake is very popular as offering at the praying alters of Chinese home. It is best to be taken with hot beverages such as kopi 'O' (black coffee) or tea 'O' (tea without milk). Our Hainanese (Chinese Dialect Community) friend told us that during his younger days, he used to help his mother (coffee shop in Kajang) to make this cake during Chinese New Year when they received overwhelming orders (60) for this cake. They sell them in slices in their coffee shop during the day. 30 years ago it cost 10 cents per big slice but today is RM1 per small slice.

There are many ways of making this butter cakes. One kg (kilogram) of butter/margarine to one kg of flour and one kg of sugar and 20 eggs. I have not tried this method. During Chinese New Year Simon's wife gave this recipe to me and immediately I proceeded to bake them. I was told this recipe is from her friend in Kuantan. It was delicious and reminded us of the old time when we had this type of cakes in the Hainanese coffee shop. In olden days in Malaysia many coffee shops were operated by members of the Hainanese community.









9 AA size eggs (separate egg yolks and egg whites)
450g Butter/Margarine
400g Castor Sugar
425g Red Rose Flour + 1/2 tsp Baking Powder (sieved)
1tsp Vanilla Essence (optional)
1tbsp Condensed Milk


Cream butter and castor sugar until white and fluffy. Add in the egg yolks one at a time. Lastly add in the flour and vanilla essence and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till soft peak and fold into the above mixture. Add in the condensed milk. I used 4 pcs of 7" cake tins and lined them with parchment paper. Each weight about 450g excluding the cake tin. For marble effect mix some cocoa powder. I was told in the morning market this cake was sold at RM5 each. Looking forward to have 60 butter cakes orders in the next Chinese New Year. Ha! Ha! Ha!



Have fun and be happy!