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.
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.
NATASHA PRATT says
Can butter be used instead of margarine
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, just make sure it’s soft and at room temperature so it combines easily with the other ingredients.
Joyce says
Hi Charlotte could you please help me I made this cake and though it was delicious so did the rest of the family !! Could you please give me a cooking time if I used all the mixture in a 9 ins round cake tin
Kind regards
Charlotte Oates says
Same cooking time. Use the calculator linked below the recipe to adjust the ingredient quantities.
Robert Ross says
Hi Charlotte
I have used your recipe lots of times always turned out great but a few days ago my sponges sunk in the middle they raised lovely as normal then half way through baking the middle sunk I didn’t open the door all ingredients were fresh and in date would you have any idea why this happened help!!
PS.
Charlotte Oates says
That sounds odd. Is there anything you changed from the sponges you made in the past, e.g. different tins or cooked to on a different oven shelf?
Otherwise my guess would be that you’ve beaten it more than usual and added more air which can cause it to rise well in the oven and sink as it has less structure.
julie says
i use a recipe similar to this and bake on 120 fan oven for 50 min, no need to check as its on low so no need to open the oven which would cause it to sink
Diana Eyre says
Hiya would this sponge recipe work well with adding sugar strands to make it a confetti sponge?
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve not tried it, but I would expect it to work well.
Charlotte (a different one ;D) says
I was thinking of doing the exact same thing! If you try it please let us know how it goes!
Rose says
My go to sponge for Birthday Cakes this is delicious
Jenny says
I love this recipe and use it all the time..thank you.
Just wondered if you’ve ever done 3 tiers with it and whether it holds ok?
Charlotte Oates says
I haven’t. I know that it’s fine for two tiers, but you may find that it’s too soft to support the weight of three. I’d probably go for something sturdier for the bottom tier, such as a madeira cake.
Kathryn says
Wow, I’m no baker but this recipe was easy and the end result was delicious. Will definitely use it for future birthday cakes.