The “Bung-in Cake” is my all-time favourite recipe.
If there was one recipe I could not do without, this is it! I have been using this recipe successfully for as long as I can remember.
It was given to me by a special aunt. Every time I make a “Bung-in Cake” I remember her. You can read about her in my story Auntie Dulcie and the Bung-in Cake.
Here’s why I love this recipe:
#1. The “Bung-in Cake” is super-easy to make. “Bung-in” is Australian slang for “throw in”. To make this cake you just put everything together in a bowl and mix! I always use my old Sunbeam Mixmaster (you may have a modern Kitchen Aide mixer) to blend, then beat, the ingredients.
#2. The “Bung-in Cake” doesn’t take long to prepare or bake. Preparation time is about 10 minutes; baking time for one standard-size cake is about 35 minutes.
#3. The recipe is amazingly versatile. You can use it to make a plain (vanilla) cake, orange cake, chocolate cake, apple teacake or a pineapple upside-down cake.
#4. You can use a variety of baking tins: round, square, rectangular (loaf tin) or a lamington tray. The cake baked in the lamington tray can be cut into cubes to make lamingtons (cubes of cake iced with runny chocolate icing and dipped in coconut).
#5. The “Bung-in Cake” is just perfect as the base for novelty birthday cakes. I’ve made a lot of novelty birthday cakes over the years and I always use this recipe. A number of these cakes are illustrated in a previous post: The Ubiquitous Carrot Cake (November 1, 2015). I usually bake TWO cakes for this purpose. I use butter icing to cover the cakes.
#6. The “Bung-in Cake” makes a great dessert cake. My favourite is the pineapple upside-down cake, served with cream. My father loved this cake so much, I used to make one for him every week in his later years.
#7. The recipe is fool-proof. I don’t recall ever having a “flop”. Use good quality, fresh ingredients and use the right oven temperature, and I’m sure it will work for you too.
Happy baking!
BUNG-IN CAKE
Ingredients
125g soft butter or margarine
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
1 cup SR Flour
1 tablespoon cornflour
pinch salt
Method
- Place all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl (or mix-master bowl).
- Beat altogether for 3 minutes at speed of 8-9.
- Pour into a round 20cm cake tin (or similar).
- Bake in a moderate oven for 30-35 minutes (or until top of the cake springs back when touched lightly).
- Decorate with butter icing.
VARIATIONS
Orange cake – Substitute ¼ cup orange juice for milk.
Chocolate cake – Substitute 1 tablespoon cocoa for cornflour.
Pineapple upside-down cake – Melt 2 tablespoons butter in the cake tin, add 1/3 cup brown sugar, and arrange tinned pineapple slices on top. Decorate with glazed cherries or dates. Pour cake mixture on top.
Source: Auntie Dulcie
BUTTER ICING
Ingredients
125g butter
1½ cups icing sugar (for chocolate icing, substitute 1 tablespoon cocoa for 1 tablespoon icing sugar)
2 tablespoons milk / orange juice
Method
- Beat the butter until it is white.
- Add half of the icing sugar and all of the milk or juice and beat again.
- Add the remaining icing sugar and beat well.
This is exactly the same recipe as my mum Joan Horne’s 6 minute cake. I enjoyed many of these over the years. I’m sure she could make these cakes in her sleep.
Dear Wendy. Thank you for providing feedback about your mum’s cake. I remember your mum well! The cake sure is easy. Have you used the recipe yourself? Best wishes, Judy
Hi Judy, just came across your blog (someone tagged it in facebook I think) and am loving your short stories. It’s a great blessing to have such rich family history, on both sides of the family and you’re creating more now with your children and grandchildren. I also have the exact same cake recipe given to me by a beloved aunt. I think she may have received the recipe from an Aussie friend as a new migrant in the late 70s. It was the first cake that I learnt to bake and I have made it countless times. I haven’t made it in a while but might do so after reading your blog. It is indeed a simple easy yummy cake!
My mum called it a Simplicity cake. She could do “anything” with it. When I was first married and wanted to be independent, I used to use all kinds of complicated recipes but never as successfully as mum’s. When asked for quantities, Mum always said “…just woong it in”. I do love the term: Bung in Cake.