I love a good tray bake. For some reason, it feels easier to make than the thought of making an entire cake. This way, you can leave the cake in the tray, decorate it in the tray and even serve it in the tray! Or alternatively, cut it up into squares and stack it on a pretty platter.
The toppings and fillings are endless, plus you can even soak it in flavoured syrup like Rose or Lemon.
In this variation, I have used pistachios in the cake and as the decoration for that extra crunch with the sticky salted butterscotch.
You will also get a chance to view my lemon and white chocolate tray bake which was soaked in a fresh lemon syrup and zingy lemon zest.
I usually use my go to 12x15 inch baking tray, but once you have established your go to baking tray, most of my recipes can easily be adapted to fit yours.
The cake itself uses the ‘creaming method’ and consists of your basic cake ingredients; however it’s the additions and flavourings that can make it your own.
Basic Vanilla tray bake cake:
4 Eggs
220g Castor Sugar
220g Self-Raising Flour
220g Soft butter plus a little extra to grease the tin
2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract
1) Preheat the oven to around 180C. Grease and line your tray with some baking parchment of greaseproof paper.
2) Cream the butter, sugar and Vanilla extract together until it is soft and fluffy.
3) Incorporate the eggs one at a time. The mixture may split at this point, depending on the temperature of your ingredients, but don’t worry, the flour comes to the rescue.
4) Fold in the flour and if you are using any further ingredients in the cake, now is the time to put them in.
I used 200g of Ground Pistachios in this particular recipe along with 1 tablespoon of pistachio extract (optional) to bring out the flavour. If you are making this for or with kids, sometimes it’s also fun to add in a little green food colouring to enhance that minty green colour of the pistachios.
Salted Butterscotch Soak
I call this a soak because the second the cake comes out the oven, I top it with my Salted Butterscotch and watch it soak into the cake, leaving a sticky layer at the top, ready to be adorned and sprinkled with crushed, green pistachios.
You could even add dried rose petals as an additional topping if you liked.
Cut into large (emphasis on the large), generous squares and serve.
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