We’re halfway through the first month of the new year of the new decade. So you’ll forgive me for talking about cake and not some virtuous salad to help you with your ‘new year, new you’ diet? Great! Not to mention, the world is going up in flames and we could all do with a little cheering up.

This cake has been in our lives for a very long time now. It is the cake that mum makes when she wants a low-key treat to brighten up a dreary day. It’s my father’s favourite cake too, and so every now and then, the usual tea cake that she has ready when he comes home from work is replaced with this version that has a delicate, crackly top of sugar, butter and cinnamon — all the good things in life, basically.

This recipe happens to be one of the low effort/high reward recipes that makes cooking or baking so enthralling; the discovery that 1+1 = deliciousness x 500. The cake is light as a cloud, with just a hint of warmth from the cinnamon, and perfect for either serving with tea, or even as dessert, with some ice cream. Yesterday, we made it at my sister’s place, where we raided her crockery cupboard when she wasn’t looking, and we sat outside in the garden, eating the cake straight out of the oven( ok, not that warm, because mum wanted me to take a million photos of the cake first), and it was perfect.

Cinnamon Tea Cake

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
60 g butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)

For the topping
1 tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon, powdered

Method

Add the baking powder and salt to the flour and sieve twice. Set aside.

With a hand mixer, beat the sugar and butter till white and fluffy.

Add the egg and the vanilla extract to the sugar and butter mixture and mix well.
Add the flour and the milk in batches, alternating between the two, until fully incorporated.
Pour into a 7 inch round tin and bake at 170°C for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and brush the top with butter.
Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon on top.
Enjoy!