Simple Birthday Cake

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Written by McDonald, T.  |  Date 23rd of September 2024    

I like a plain vanilla cake with just a little bit of fancy for my birthday. Nothing to flash because I love the flavour of vanilla. This cake is so easy to prepare, is ready in 45 minutes and can be decorated any way you like. In addition, and most importantly of all, it is really tasty and holds together beautifully.

Notes

  • Sub 30 g of flour for cocoa powder and forgo the vanilla essence to make it chocolate. 
  • Use scales to weigh out the oil and water because jug measurements can be way out.  
1 gram = 1 millilitre.    
  • I used a skewer as a cake tester.
  • Yes, you can flatten out the doming or cut it off if you please. 

Servers, 12

Time, 50 minutes approx

Ingredients

Wet ingredients

  • 100ml vegetable oil, or sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 180ml tepid water 

Dry ingredients 

  • 280g self-raising flour
  • 150g caster sugar 
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt

Apparatus

  • 19 cm diameter cake tin
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Balloon whisk
  • Spatula 

 

Method

  1.  Preheat the oven to 165 °C fan or 180 °C.

  2. Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix with a balloon whisk.

  3. Mix all the wet ingredients in a jug and poor in to the mixing bowl a little at a time.

  4. Don't over mix or it will become too hard; just mix it rather than beating it.

  5. Poor the batter into the cake tin that is either greased or lined with tin liner.

  6. Bake on the lower middle shelf of the oven for 35–40 minutes at 165 °C fan assisted.

  7. After baking, test with a cake tester. Poke the cake tester in the middle of the cake if the cake tester comes out clean, it is done.

  8. Leave in the tin for a few minutes. This will make it easier to remove from the tin because it will shrink a little.

  9. Leave to completely cool on a cooling rack.

  10. Decorate it how you please.


Results



How will you decorate yours? 

I really hope you enjoyed this blog and I hope you give this recipe a try.  As always, please let me know how you got on with it.  Did you like it?  Did you change it in some way?  Let me know.




 

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