Cinnamon Tea Cake

I've stumbled upon this recipe one day when I was trying to find more ways to get spices into baked goods. After making batches of phenomenal Spicy oatmeal cookies with raisins, I wanted to put cinnamon into cakes. I tried some experimenting with cupcakes and strong flavours but I really found a gem in this simple cake. Tea cakes are not made from tea, as it may seem. They are usually enjoyed WITH a cup of afternoon tea, preferably one of slightly bitter taste. While the classification of tea cakes is pretty broad (in some regions, teacake is sort of a bread with dried fruit in it, in others it is not unlike a standard pound cake, somewhere even similar to cookies), they are sweet and tend not to be frosted.

This tea cake is, as I already hinted, a spice cake which is apparently an Australian perception of tea cakes. I imagine it would be absolutely delicious with slices of apple inside (since apple + cinnamon = OMNOM), however I tried it with added clove and nutmeg and it was great as well. Don't be afraid to experiment, the sky is the limit.

Cinnamon Tea Cake
you will need:

• 180g cubed butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 220g plain flour
• 1,5 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 125ml milk
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar, extra
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, extra
• 1 tablespoon melted butter, extra

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 20cm-round cake pan with baking paper. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla together until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. Sift flours and cinnamon together. Fold in alternately with milk in 2 batches. Spoon into pan and smooth surface. Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.
3. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Carefully turn out onto a wire rack.
4. Mix extra sugar, cinnamon and melted butter together. Pour over cake and set aside to cool. Alternatively, poke holes to the surface before pouring the melted butter so that it gets inside the cake as well.