Vanilla Cake – Back To Basics!
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A delicious two layer vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam!
Back to basics
Back in 2018, I thought I would start a new series on my blog – ‘back to basics’. As much as I hope that all my recipes are simple and doable by anyone of any baking ability, I know that some are not! Or, some people do just want to learn the basics – and I want to help with that!
Vanilla cake
I thought that I would go for an absolute classic for my fourth instalment, a vanilla cake. This beauty is a two layer vanilla sponge cake, with vanilla buttercream frosting, and one of my favourite jam flavours… strawberry!
Okay, so back to basics has potentially gone a little bit too basic now, with a vanilla cake.. but I’ve had endless requests. I do have a Victoria sponge recipe on my blog already, but this a two layer beauty and potentially explained in a much better way. I hope.
Other ‘back to basics’ recipes
My first part of the back to basics series was my triple chocolate brownies, followed by my no-bake vanilla cheesecake, and then thirdly the chocolate cake. I figured doing a vanilla recipe would fit with the system and alternating between the two flavours!
Its all in the science
But anyway… this is basically the most simple yet most scientific of cakes. It only really takes four ingredients to make something DELICIOUS, but you have to get it right. It doesn’t really matter whether you use a two egg recipe, three egg, four egg etc… as long as the ratios are equal.
There are obviously other factors that are involved with getting the perfect cake – but really the ratio, how you mix it, and the oven being the correct temperature is so important! I use a Fan oven, so I bake my cake at 160 degrees! As my oven is new, it helps so much, but with other ovens I have used an oven thermometer to make sure my oven is correct before baking – as ovens can be drastically out!
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve heard (this could be incorrect), that the ovens on The Great British Bake off are tested each day before the contestants start by baking a Victoria sponge – as it’s the most classic and scientifically easy bake! If the bake doesn’t bake correctly, but you know its weighed and mixed correctly, then usually it means it’s the oven.
Method/mix
If you know your oven is at the right temperature – just make sure you mix it correctly. I personally switch between the all in one method, and the beating sugar and butter first method – but in general, I find the beating the sugar and butter together method is better for the most.
Butter
If the butter is too cold for the cake, it can make the cake mixture a little lumpy. I usually use room temperature unsalted butter (the kind you get in foil), or Stork for cake sponges. Either work absolutely fantastically! However, for the buttercream, you must NOT use Stork. Only use unsalted butter for the buttercream – otherwise it can split or taste horrible!
Handy equipment!
I personally use my Kitchenaid mixer with the scraper paddle attachment for a majority of my baking – and all my cake mixes and buttercreams. I don’t use a whisk, as that creates too much air, and can be quite faffy – but if you have just a handheld mixer, then the whisk attachments for those are fine.
You can easily make a cake mix and such with just your hand, a bowl and a spatula, but for buttercream it does take a bit more welly to get it just perfect! You could go the whole hog and make your own homemade jam if you want, but I just thought I would stick with this recipe being about the actual cake!
I hope you all love this recipe, and no I am not claiming I created it, because it’s been around for centuries and centuries – it’s just science! But honestly, enjoy! x
Vanilla Cake - Back To Basics!
Ingredients
Cake!
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 250 g caster sugar
- 250 g self raising flour
- 5 medium eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream!
- 200 g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 400 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Extras!
- 200 g strawberry jam
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan and line two 8"/20cm tins with parchment paper, and leave to the side.
- Beat together your butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy!
- Add in your self raising flour, eggs and vanilla and beat again for a a couple of minutes until smooth.
- Try not to over beat - mix until it comes together and is smooth
- Split the cake mix between the two tins. I weigh it to make sure its even - each mix should weigh 500g each (roughly)
- Once in the tins, bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until baked through. I check my cake is baked by using a skewer, and listening carefully to see if it bubbles!
- Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- To make the buttercream, make sure your butter is at room temperature.
- Beat the butter on its own for 3-4 minutes, I use the paddle attachment.
- Once the butter is nice and supple, add the icing sugar in 1/2 at a time, and beat fully before adding any more in.
- Add in the vanilla, and beat again for 3-4 minutes until it's all come together.
- Carefully pipe or spread half of your buttercream onto the first cake, and then top with some jam.
- Add the second sponge on, and then spread the rest of the buttercream on top.
- Decorate with your favourite sprinkles, and enjoy!
Notes
- This cake will last for 3 days at room temperature, in a cake box.
- You don't have to use the vanilla, but obviously that is the theme of the cake!
- You could always use vanilla beans/paste/extract over essence as its much more natural!
- The jam is optional - or you can swap to whatever flavour you prefer!
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J x
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Hi Jane,
if I made this in to a 3 tier cake using 2 tins (baking 2 then baking 1 on its own) how would you adjust the cooking time?
thanks!
Have a look at my Victoria sponge celebration cake as that’s a 3 layer one x
Is this similar to your Victoria Sponge cake but 2 tiers? Thank you
Yes!
Hi Jane,
Can I ask what depth your 8 inch tins are please?
Mine are all 3″ deep minimum!
Hi,
If I only want to use buttercream just for the middle of the cake and not on top, can I halve those ingredients?
Thanks
Yes! x
Hi Jane. This might be a silly question, but how do you get the edges of the sponge to be smooth/straight? I get indents from the parchment paper and it looks untidy x
So for cakes I often don’t line the sides, but always the bottom as that’s the bit that can get stuck – for very deep cakes (like for my wedding cake) I lined the sides! x
Hiya Jane! If I made this is it essentially a Victoria Sponge cake but 2 tiers? I’m dyslexic so reading the Victoria Sponge cake recipe on your old layout is hard whilst the new layout on your vanilla cake is much easier to process. Thank you.
Hi jane love your recipes unfortuneately I only have a 6inch tin available. How would I alter the recipe for a 6inch cake with 3 layers please x
Hey! It depends on the depth that you want – but you could increase everything to 300g (rather than 250g), and then split between three 6″ tins! x
Hi, would you keep the same amount of eggs etc for this even though increasing 50g as below x
No, you need the eggs to weigh the same as the other ingredients as explained in the post. So 300g is roughly 6 eggs!
Hi I only have large eggs at home and not medium, do I still make the recipe with 5 eggs or do I use 4 eggs instead?
Hey – you need to use 4 large eggs, and 240g of the rest of the ingredients!
Hi, I’d like to bake this cake using a 9inch baling tin. What measurements would I need for the ingredients?
You need to use 1/3 more! I would use a 400g mix!
I made this cake last weekend and OH MY GOD it was AMAZING!! Everyone I gave a slice to said how amazing it was <3
Hey again. Ive decided to do this as a two layer cake but with 400g ingredients.
What would the bake time/temp be for this ? Thanks:)
170C/150C Fan – bake time about 50-55 minutes! x
I’m going to try this for my daughter’s birthday next week and attempt to butter cream round it , if I’m going to make it 3 tiers I understand I need to add on half the ingredients but how many eggs would you use? As 5 are in the recipe?
I would use a 400g mix for three tins, and use 8 medium eggs! X
Hi Jane! Thanks for always replying to my never ending questions about 6 inch tins!!
So I made this today and split between three 6 inch tins, didn’t get the rise I wanted, would you say split between two 6 inch tins? They are deep ones. Or should I make a bigger mix and split between the three? If so, how much more would I add? Sorry for all the questions!!
Laura xxx
Hey!! So you could definitely do just two, but bake for longer instead!! That would make them definitely Depp enough!! xx
Would I be able to use salted butter or will that effect the flavour / consistency of the cake?
Hey – it can make the cake salty, but otherwise, it should bake the same!
Hi, I want to use this recipe to make a 4 layer cake, using 6 inch tins. What would the ratio for ingredients be?
Thanks x
Hey! I would actually keep it the same – a 6″ tin is about 2/3 in size, so you could bake it into four 6″ tins easily! Or you can reduce it down more if you don’t want them as deep! x
Hi, what could i replace the jam with please as we arnt the biggest fans of it? Thanks
You can just leave it out, use fresh fruit, use any other spread and so on!