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–+ servings

Mini Vanilla Cake

A cute little 4" mini vanilla cake - the perfect small batch cake, bento box size cake, or for a mini celebration. 
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Category: Small Batch
Type: Cake
Keyword: Vanilla
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Cooling/Decorating: 2 hours
Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes
Servings: 4 slices
Author: Jane's Patisserie

Equipment

Ingredients

Cakes

  • 2 medium eggs (weighed in shells - mine were 118g)
  • 118 g caster sugar *see method below
  • 118 g unsalted butter/baking spread
  • 118 g self raising flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Decoration

  • 125 g unsalted butter (room temp)
  • 250 g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • sprinkles
  • 50-100 g jam
Grams - Ounces

Instructions

Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 160ºc/140ºc fan and line the base of two 4" cake tins
  • Weigh the eggs in their shells (I use medium) and grab the weight.
  • Mine weighed 118g, so I then used 118g of sugar, flour and butter.
  • Add the butter and caster sugar to a bowl, and mix together until combined
  • Add the eggs, flour and vanilla to the bowl, and mix
  • Split the mixture between the two tins, and bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes. Check from 30 minutes
  • Leave to cool in the tin, or on a wire rack after 15 minutes

Decoration

  • Beat the room temperature butter on it's own until smooth
  • Add the icing sugar and beat again
  • Add the vanilla and mix. If it's really thick, add 1-2tbsp boiling water to soften slightly, but only if essential.

Assembly

  • Cut each cake in half, so you have four layers in total.
  • Stick the first layer down onto a plate/dish and then pipe a small border of buttercream around the edge of the sponge
  • Fill the middle in with jam
  • Repeat this with two more layer of sponge, and then add the last on top.
  • Use a small amount of buttercream around the edges to create a crumb coat, smoothing with a scraper or angled spatula. Chill the cake for 30 minutes
  • Add on more buttercream, and smooth around again until smooth
  • Pipe any leftover buttercream on top
  • Add sprinkles and eat

Notes

  • I used two of these cake tins in this recipe 
  • I use a large piping bag to fill and decorate the sponge 
  • I used a 2d closed star piping tip for the decoration on top
  • I also used some super bright sprinkles for decoration   
  • I used this metal scraper for the crumb coat and finished look 
  • This cake will last for 3-4 days, at room temperature 
  • You can freeze this for 4+ months 
  • This cake serves 4-6 slices of cake 
  • You can increase the buttercream to 150g butter and 300g icing sugar if you want a thicker buttercream layer