BETTER LATE THAN NEVER--A Really Late Birthday Cake

My sister J (who, if given a choice would eat cake every single day) celebrated her birthday last June 6 but because I was busy or preoccupied or both (I can never really tell...) I wasn't able to bake her a proper cake. So...now that I'm in a baking mood (thanks to the DB challenge) I've decided to bake her a cake--better late than never, tee-hee. Deciding to bake which cake was a little challenging but finally I found one which didn't look too time-consuming and at the same time would taste good (I really hope so..) This one was in Celebration Cakes (The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbooks) which was given to me years back by a friend who now lives in Melbourne.

BUTTER CAKE

Butter 250 grams

Vanilla Essence 2 teaspoons

Caster Sugar 1 1/2 cups

Eggs 4 pieces

Self Raising Flour 3 cups (I substituted 3 cups all-purpose flour and 2 tablespoons baking powder)

Milk 1 cup

1. Grease and line base and sides of cake pan with one thickness baking paper (I just lined the bottom)

2. Beat butter, essence and sugar in bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. Transfer mixture to larger bowl, stir in sifted flour and milk. Spread mixture into prepared pan.

3. Bake in a moderate (350 degrees farenheit-375 degrees farenheit) oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

4. Test cake by inserting a wooden or metal skewer into centre of cake; if cooked, skewer will come out clean, if there is moist cake mixture on skewer, return cake to oven further 10 minutes before testing again.

5. Stand cake 5 minutes; tun onto wire rack to cool.

FLUFFY FROSTING

1 cup CASTER SUGAR

1/3 cup WATER

2 EGG WHITES

Combibe sugar and the water in small saucepan; stir over heat without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Boil, uncovered, without stirring until syrup reaches 116 degrees celsius on candy thermometer (soft ball stage). Remove from heat allow bubbles to subside. Meanwhile, beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. While mixer is operating, add hot syrup in thin stream. Beat on high speed about 10 minutes or until mixture is thick and cool.