Marble Butter Cake

December till March is always the time of the year I love most. It's a time of festive season, crossing over to the new year of resolution and a fresh start, then we have the Chinese New Year, followed by Valentine's day and my birthday which falls at the end of February. :) It's the time when friends and families would make it a point to get together, have a good meal, be it Christmas, Chinese New Year... and it's a time with lots of baking!! :D

It's the time of the year when I can still have the excuse to go shopping, to eat and indulge a little without feeling guilty, because once March kicks in, I know that hey, I've had all the fun and it's time to get serious and work hard (smart?). Less excuse not to work overtime (if need be), no more excuse not to exercise and keep myself in shape...

The first week of March has passed, and I've got to face the reality. It's also time for me to make an appointment with the bridal studio for gown fitting soon :) , and I've told myself that after February, I must put in effort to stay trim and fit! But... looks like I've not. Good food is too hard to resist :P Anyhow, this post is dedicated to the marble butter cake I baked for my birthday. Since last year, I have stopped asking for a sara lee pound cake from my mum. Instead I chosed to bake my own. I don't really like butter cakes but since my mum like it, I baked it as a treat for her. I've added a pink colouring to create a three tone marble cake. I think it looks pretty but from the photos it's not very obvious. These are two of the best photos I managed to take. ;)

I wanted to try a new butter cake recipe from Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida but in the end I took the recipe from Aunty Yochana's tri-colour marble cake as I wanted to use the self-raising flour which I hardly use.

The result is lovely. Soft, tight crumbs and very buttery smell.

Of course, I had my birthday cake as well, eaten three birthday cakes for my birthday! How can I keep trim? :P