Raspberry Butter Cake

Raspberry Butter Cake

• 13 Dec 2010

A few months ago I started looking for some vintage homewares for props. I particularly wanted some old cooling racks, knives and a wooden handled wire sieve. Those things are either really hard to track down or ridiculously expensive to find in Sydney. (I'm still trying to source some of these items btw).

I finally found the perfect wire cooling rack online, but it was part of a set and when the set was broken down piece by piece the wire cooling rack was way too expensive. I threw caution to the wind and bought most of the set figuring the pieces were at the most decorative and hopefully functional as well.

The parcel arrived and I eagerly opened it. There was no warning on the site that the tins showed signs of rust so I was disappointed to find all the bakeware was substantially rusted and the star shaped tin was the most affected of the lot.  It was so pretty I thought I'd try baking something in it, just to see if it was still functional. I found a recipe for a raspberry pound cake in an old Donna Hay magazine and gave it a try.

It was a disaster. The mixture rose too high and when I tried to turn the cake out, one edge of the cake remained firmly attached to the pan. That cake went straight into the bin. I adapted an old Gretta Anna butter cake recipe and tried again. This time I oiled the tin like a crepe pan and left it for a week before using it again. I greased and regreased every corner of the tin and floured it as well as lining the base with non-stick paper. This time the cake turned out perfectly.

My experience has put me off buying any more vintage wares on the internet for the moment. Has anyone else been a bit disappointed with their internet purchases?

I hope you all had lovely weekends. Guess what I did? I bought some more Christmas presents! I'll be dropping back briefly on Wednesday as I have some mince pies to make for my last day at work for 2010 and no other night in which to get them done.

Until then,

Jillian