Butter Cake with Almonds — Moist Traybake
Yeast dough, little butter flakes, almonds — and cream added while hot
Butter cake is the cake you don't need any skill for and yet should know a thing or two about. It consists of three things: a yeast dough, butter in little hollows and almonds on top. What makes it moist comes right at the very end — the cream you drizzle over the still-hot cake. It soaks into the warm crumb, and that is exactly the difference between a dry tray bake and one that still tastes good on the third day. When butter and cake come together like this, the result stays wonderfully tender.
Two points decide the outcome. The first is the milk: it must be lukewarm, not hot. Above 45 °C the yeast dies, and the dough never rises properly. The second are the hollows. Press them too shallow and the butter runs off while baking and collects at the edge; press them properly deep and it stays where it belongs and melts into the dough.
The rest is waiting. The dough proves for an hour, the cake bakes for just under half an hour — and it also has to be cooled, otherwise it tears when you cut it.
Ingredients
Yeast dough
Topping
Step by step
Yeast dough
Knead the dough vigorously
Put the flour into a Bowl and crumble in the yeast. Warm the milk until lukewarm — it should feel warm on your wrist, but not hot — and add it. Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, the soft butter and the egg. Knead everything vigorously with the Dough hook for at least 5 minutes. Any shorter won't do: only then has the gluten structure formed that later makes the dough light and fluffy.
Let it rise for an hour
Cover the Bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 60 minutes, until it has clearly increased in volume. During this time, grease the Baking tray. Covered really does mean covered: if the surface dries out, the dough forms a skin, and that later remains as a tough layer in the cake.
Topping and Baking
Roll out to fit the tray
Knead the risen dough firmly once more and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface to the size of the tray. Line the tray with baking paper, place the dough on top and push it into the corners with your hands.
Press hollows and distribute the butter
Using the handle of a wooden spoon, press light hollows into the dough — evenly across the whole surface. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and place a piece into each hollow, until the entire dough is covered. The butter must be cold: soft cubes will already melt while you distribute them, and then the butter no longer sits where it belongs.
Sugar, almonds — and into the oven
Preheat the oven to 180 °C top/bottom heat (fan 160 °C). Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the whole cake, then the flaked almonds — generously, they may cover the dough completely. Now the cake is ready for the oven.
Baking and the cream at the end
Bake the cake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the almonds are golden brown. From minute 25 it's worth keeping an eye on it: almonds quickly turn from golden brown to bitter. Pour the cream over the whole cake while it is still hot. It soaks straight into the warm crumb and makes the cake moist and soft — this is the step that makes this butter cake what it is. Then let it cool, cut into pieces and enjoy.
Butter cake with almonds
Ingredients
Yeast dough
Topping
Preparation
- Dough: Knead flour, yeast, lukewarm milk, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, soft butter and egg for at least 5 min.
- Proving: Cover and leave to rise for approx. 60 min., line the tray with baking paper.
- Rolling out: Knead through, roll out to the size of the tray, place on the tray and push into the corners.
- Dimples: Press light dimples, place a small piece of cold butter in each one.
- Scatter: Scatter sugar and flaked almonds on top, preheat the oven to 180 °C.
- Bake: Bake for 25–30 min. until the almonds are golden brown.
- Cream: While still hot, pour over the whole cake and let it soak in.
- Cool: Leave to cool, then cut into approx. 24 pieces.
Nutritional values per 100 g
Storage & shelf life
Everything for this recipe
Recommended from our bakery — exactly the sizes the recipe was tested with.
Ingredients
White flour, 1 kg
Dry yeast 6 x 11 g
Accessories
Baking paper 42 x 33 cm, 25 pieces
Plastic dough cloths
Baking tray aluminium 44 x 35
Rolling pin 28 cm
Wooden spoon set heart
Delivery in 1–2 working days · Free shipping from CHF 100
So it turns out perfectly every time
Above 45 °C the yeast dies, and the dough never rises properly afterwards — you only notice after an hour of waiting. If you don't use a Thermometer: the milk should feel warm on your wrist, not hot. Cold milk, by the way, is no problem; the dough just takes longer.
What matters isn't how deep the dents are, but that they are spread evenly across the whole dough and that a little piece of butter sits in each one. Where there's no butter, the cake stays dry. And take it straight from the fridge cold: soft cubes melt away as you spread them.
This is the step that makes this cake. As long as the crumb is hot, the cream soaks in and stays there. If you wait until the cake is lukewarm, it sits on top, softens the almonds and dries into a film. So: tray out of the oven, cream over it, done.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. One cube of fresh yeast (42 g) corresponds to about 7 g of dry yeast. The dry yeast is not crumbled into the milk but mixed dry into the flour; the lukewarm milk is added afterwards. The rising time stays the same.
Yes, and it makes the cake more flavourful. Just use a quarter of the yeast, knead the dough as described and put it covered in the fridge overnight. The next morning, let it acclimatise at room temperature for a good hour, then continue as usual.
Usually the oven was too hot or the cake was in too long. It's baked as soon as the almonds are golden brown — depending on your oven, that can be after just 25 minutes. The second cause is dough rolled out too thin on a large tray: then it lacks the crumb that keeps it soft.
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Related products
Plastic dough towels
White flour, 1 kg
Wooden cellar set heart
Dry yeast 6 x 11 g
Baking tray aluminum 44 x 35
Baking paper 42 x 33 cm, 25 pieces
Rolling pin 28 cm
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