A delicious, light vanilla sponge birthday cake recipe. Quick and simple to make and perfect for decorating to make a birthday really special.
When I was a child I loved the birthday cakes my mum made and decorated for me. At my parties, I was always really proud to show off my birthday cake to my friends. In the weeks running up to my birthday, I used to look through my mum’s cake decorating book and choose the cake I wanted (actually I always chose the fairy castle, but never got it).
Now I have my own children, it’s important to me to do the same for them. Rather than choosing from a book, I let them describe what they want and then scour the internet for inspiration to achieve it (I don’t know what I’d do without Google Images and Pinterest). Today is my littlest’s second birthday so I thought it would be a good time to share with you the recipe I use for making the vanilla sponge which goes inside most of the cakes I make for my family. The recipe is adapted from a book called Cake Magic by Virginia Welsh and Alison French – the same book I chose my cakes from when I was little.
The theme I was given for today’s cake was Chuggington. I was told it must include an engine shed, three trains (Wilson, Koko and Brewster), and a turntable (they don’t ask for much!). I’m not a professional cake decorator, but what I lack in skill I hopefully make up for in enthusiasm and effort. Here’s what I managed…
If you want to take a look at the other cakes I’ve made for friends and family then visit my cake gallery.
Recommended Equipment
To make my vanilla sponge I’d recommend the following equipment…
NOTE – These are affiliate links which means that if you purchase from Amazon after clicking on one the product links below I will earn a small commission.
Accurate scales are essential when baking and I love these Electronic Scales from Salter. You can reset the weight every time you add a new ingredient which is perfect for something like this all-in-one sponge. They’re also compact so take up hardly any space in your cupboards.
If I’m making a round cake I use these tins
from Delia Smith (well if it’s good enough for Delia then it’s good enough for me!).
Instead of using greaseproof paper to line your cake tins I recommend trying these Bake-o-Glide reusable liners
. There’s no need to grease the tin as they’re easily removed, and they’re pre-cut to size so there’s no fiddling around trying to get the greaseproof cut to the right shape.
You’ll also need a large mixing bowl and an electric mixer (you can mix by hand if you don’t have a mixer just be prepared for some arm ache!).
Fancy making a chocolate birthday cake instead?
Then try my new CHOCOLATE BIRTHDAY CAKE RECIPE, it’s really chocolatey, easy to make and perfect for decorating.
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Birthday Cake (All-In-One Vanilla Sponge)
INGREDIENTS
- 225 g self-raising flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 eggs - I usually use medium but large also work well
- 225 g soft margarine
- 225 g caster sugar
- 6 drops vanilla extract
- 2 tsp milk
RECIPE VIDEO
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan
- Line your baking tins(s) (I usually use 2 x 20cm round sandwich tins or a 20cm x 30cm rectangular tin, depending on the shape of cake I want to make).
- Sift the self-raising flour (225g) and baking powder (2 tsp) into a large bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients (4 eggs, 225g soft margarine, 225g caster sugar, 6 drops of vanilla extract and 2 tsp milk) and beat until thoroughly mixed.
- Pour into the tin(s)
- Bake for 30-35 minutes. To check if the cake is cooked insert a skewer and if it comes out clean the cake is ready.
- Leave to cool in the tin(s) for about 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to cool completely – Make sure the cake has cooled completely before decorating.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Nut-Free
- Soy-Free
The ingredients for this recipe are commonly available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.
I’m sharing this with the following recipe challenges… #TastyTuesdays with Honest Mum.
Penny YOUNG says
Can you use this recipe to make vanilla cup cakes too?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes. I have this recipe on my site as vanilla cupcakes here.
Easy Vanilla Cupcakes
Sharon Spence says
Hi how far ahead can you make this cake, if you completely make and icing on Tuesday would it be fine on Saturday.
Charlotte Oates says
This cake usually lasts for about 7 days so should be fine for what you suggest, although you’ll only have a couple of days to eat it.
Yassine says
Hi,
So far I made your Biscoff cake and today a Birthday cake for my 6 year-old. For this, I did a 2-layer 9×13 cake – one layer uses the vanilla sponge recipe, the other layer thew chocolate’s one, filled with your Nutella buttercream recipe and icing to cover with a dinosaur theme. All recipes worked very well and the cake looks so professionally-made ! Happy to share a photo.
I can’t wait for tasting comments later in. the day …
Thank you !
SS says
Can I use this recipe for cupcakes instead? Loved it as a birthday cake just wondered if any reason the sponge wouldn’t be good as cupcakes?
Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
You can. I actually have it on this site as a cupcake recipe too:
Easy Vanilla Cupcakes
Fallon Conroy de Cueva says
Is this cake able to freeze and does it keep to a similar consistency/moistness?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes. You can freeze the sponges, just wrap them in cling film to protect them. Once the sponge is fully defrosted and back to room temperature it has a similar consistency to when it was freshly baked.
Michelle says
I absolutely love love love this recipe ITS MY FAVOURITE, but now my sister in law wants a gluten free cake, will it work if I substitute the flour with GF flour?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, it should be just fine using a commercial gluten-free self-raising flour.
Kim says
Is it important to use margarine for this recipe, or can it be substituted with butter?
Charlotte Oates says
You can substitute in butter, just make sure you allow it to come up to room temperature before you make the cake so that it mixes in fully with the other ingredients.
Lynn Morga says
I really want to make this cake but I cant see how you have made the centre and iced the top?
Charlotte Oates says
The cake is filled and covered with my vanilla buttercream. There is also a layer of jam in the centre too (I can’t remember if it’s strawberry or raspberry, but either is fine). The cake is the covered in ready-made fondant icing.
Lisa W says
This makes such a a lovely sponge. Mine sank slightly when cooling but was so moist. I used to use a Mary Berry recipe which always came out a little dry, I am converted to this recipe!
Rachael Smith says
Hi, is this recipe available to make in a 6inch cake tin?? Need to make one by tomorrow and love this recipe
Charlotte Oates says
You can find a link to the calculator for different tin sizes below the recipe.
angela harrison says
can you substitute the caster sugar for spenda as I am baking it for a debetic
Charlotte Oates says
I haven’t tested this cake recipe with Splenda so I cannot be sure of the results. However, I have tested it with Stevia and found that whilst I did bake a successful cake, there was quite a few differences in taste and texture that you may also experience with Splenda.
You can read about the test here:
https://charlotteslivelykitchen.com/sugar-v-stevia-the-baking-test/