What ingredients do I need to make this cake in a different size?
What temperature should I bake the cake at?
How long should I bake my cake for
Can I bake two layers in one deep tin?
Can this recipe be used to make cupcakes?
Can this cake be used to make tiers?
How far in advance can you make the cake?
Can you freeze the cake?
Can I use butter instead of margarine?
Can I substitute plain flour for self-raising flour?
What size eggs should I use?
Can I make this cake gluten-free?
How much fondant do I need to cover my cake?
One post on my blog that’s always popular is my all-in-one vanilla sponge birthday cake. It’s the recipe I use for almost all of my family’s birthday cakes and I absolutely love the idea that people are making and enjoying this on their family birthdays too.
However, it seems that popularity comes with lots of questions and I’m finding similar ones coming up again and again. People have told me that they’ve been scrolling through the comments to see if I’ve answered the questions before but with over 125 comments and counting it cannot be easy to spot the answer you’re looking for in amongst everything else. To try and help you all out I thought I’d pull together a quick post to answer all of your birthday cake FAQs as best I can and of course if I find new questions popping up in future I’ll add them in here.
What ingredients do I need to make this cake in a different size?
The most comment question I’m asked is how to calculate the quantities to make the cake in a different size. To help you I’ve built this handy little calculator (I’m quite proud of myself for getting this working actually 🙂 ). All you need to do is pop your tin size and the number of layers of sponge you want in your cake into the green boxes and it’ll tell you what you need. The first calculator is for a round tin and the second is for a square or rectangular tin.
I’ve also calculated the ingredients needed to coat the cake in a layer of buttercream (with buttercream in between the layers too).
You need to enter the tin size in centimetres, if you only know yours in inches, simply multiply it by 2.5.
NOTE – I’ve not tested the cake in all possible sizes (I don’t have all those different tins for a start) so cannot guarantee success, However, as long as you don’t stray too far away from the original size I expect it should still work well.
Round Cake
Cake Diameter (cm)
Number of Layers
Cake Ingredients
0 g self-raising flour
0 tsp baking powder
0 egg(s)
0 g soft margarine or butter
0 g caster sugar
0 drops vanilla extract
0 tsp milk
Buttercream Ingredients
0 g butter
0 g icing sugar
0 tsp vanilla extract
Approx. 0 tsp milk
Square or rectangular cake
Cake Size (cm)
x
Number of Layers
Cake Ingredients
0 g self-raising flour
0 tsp baking powder
0 egg(s)
0 g soft margarine or butter
0 g caster sugar
0 drops vanilla extract
0 tsp milk
Buttercream Ingredients
0 g butter
0 g icing sugar
0 tsp vanilla extract
Approx. 0 tsp milk
What temperature should I bake the cake at
You can bake this vanilla cake at the same temperature specified in the original recipe regardless of the size of tin you're using.
How long should I bake my cake for?
As long as you split the mixture into sandwich tins the cooking time will be the same as for the original recipe.
Can I bake two layers in one deep tin?
Yes you can. However it will take longer to bake.
If you put the mixture for two layers into now deep tin you'll need to bake the cake for 45-50 minutes.
Can this recipe be used to make cupcakes?
Yes, you can find the recipe to make this cake as cupcakes here.
Can this cake be used to make tiers?
My parties are all pretty small so I've never needed a cake big enough to justify tiers. It is quite a soft, light sponge and so I would expect it to be fine for 2 tiers but personally I wouldn't risk 3.
If you are planning on making two tiers remember to include some sort of support in the lower layer (strong straws or dowelling cut to the height of the cake, and also put the top tier onto a thin cake board the same size as the cake (this adds additional support and also stops the moisture from the sponge ruining the fondant on the bottom layer).
How far in advance can you make the cake?
I usually bake my cakes on a Thursday and decorate them on a Friday for a Saturday party. We only have small parties so there's usually some leftovers which have always lasted for a few days after the party. Make sure you store it in an airtight container to keep it fresh and if the weather is particularly warm I'd suggest keeping it in the fridge.
Can you freeze the cake?
Yes, you can freeze the undecorated sponge. Simply wrap it in clingfilm or an airtight bag and pop it into the freezer. When you want to use it remove it from the freezer and then make sure it's fully defrosted before decorating.
Can I use butter instead of margarine?
Yes, just make sure you take the butter out of the fridge a little before you want to start baking to allow it to soften.
Can I substitute plain flour for self-raising flour?
I've only ever used self-raising (as I've always got it in the cupboard). Nigella suggests you can substitute plain flour by simply adding an extra 2 tsp of baking powder for each 150g of flour used (so for my original recipe you'd need an additional 3 tsp of baking powder).
What size eggs should I use?
I use whatever I have in the fridge! Most of the time that'll be medium eggs but it works just as well using large.
Can I make this cake gluten-free?
You should be fine to substitute the self-raising flour for a gluten-free self-raising flour. Also, double check that the brand of baking powder you're using doesn't contain gluten (some do, some don't).
How much fondant do I need to cover my cake
If you'd like an idea of how much fondant you need to cover your cake then head on over to my fondant calculator where it'll tell you for any size of round, square or rectangular cake.
This post was originally published on 17th May 2016 and updated with an improved calculator and more FAQs on 11th July 2018.
Cindy says
I completely misunderstood how deep each layer would be; made two layers this morning expecting to make a two tier cake, but of course ended up with a sandwich sponge cake. Not to worry, easy enough to repeat the recipe, so at least I know for next time!
It’s actually the buttercream I’m struggling with, it seems way too thick to spread neatly, even after adding extra milk from what the recipe stated. Maybe the buttercream recipe doesn’t scale down quite right?
Hopefully I’ll get there in the end! 🙂 Thanks for your easy recipe calculator
Charlotte Oates says
The amount of milk in the buttercream recipe is a suggestion of roughly how much you need. However you may find that you need more. If your buttercream is too stiff then simply keep adding more milk (a little at a time) until it seems right.
Can you let me know the tin dimensions you added to the calculator so I can double check the scaling.
Lorraine says
Hi, this might seem like a daft question but just want to double check…is the villa sponge recipe quantities to be split across two tins or all in one? Total novice ha! x
Charlotte Oates says
Split across two tins.
precious says
this is still not working for me unfortunately
what are the ingridents for a:
3 layer chocolate cake ?
Charlotte Oates says
For a 3 layer cake increase the ingredients by 50% (so 6 eggs, etc.)
Ruth Thompson Van Gogh says
Hi. I can’t find the temperature for baking 24cm cakes,please can you advise. Many thanks.
Kelly says
Hi there this calculator looks AMAZING!!!
My tin is 24cm by 30 cm. However please could you tell me what height the cakes will end up so i know how thick it will be. Thank you
Kelly
Charlotte Oates says
They’re usually about 2.5-3cm tall
Elizabeth Smith says
This recipe and q&a page was very helpful. Thank you.i have my cake mixture in the oven now, I hope it turns out ok.
Jennifer says
Hi Charlotte is there a certain type of jam that you find is best to use for this cake?
Charlotte Oates says
Not particularly. I just use whatever I have in the cupboard.
precious says
this is not working??
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear that. Can you try refreshing the page and have another try. If that doesn’t work can you let me know whether you’re on a desktop, mobile or tablet and which browser you’re using and I’ll see if I can figure out what’s wrong.
precious says
I tried it on my phone and computer and its not working.
can you try please?
Charlotte Oates says
It’s working fine on both for me (On a Mac and iPhone both in Chrome and Safari). What type of phone/computer do you have and what browser are you using?
If you let me know what tin size you’re trying to enter that I’ll copy the ingredients list here for you.
precious says
I am using my iphone’s normal internet browser and my laptops normal internet brower.
I just wanted to ingridents for a 3 later 6 inch cake please
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks, I’ll have a dig around and see if I can figure out what the problem is.
In the meantime, the ingredients are:
170g SR flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
170g margarine
170g caster sugar
5 drops vanilla extract
1.5 tsp milk
For the buttercream (to fill and coat the cake)
245g butter
490g icing sugar
0.5 tsp vanilla extract
a little milk
Clare Preston says
Please can you tell me what flour you use for your vanilla birthday cake recipe. I’ve made the cake a few times and although it tastes lovely, I keep thinking I can get an after taste and thought maybe need to try a different flour or baking powder? I’m currently using Dr Oerter baking powder and Homepride Self Raising Flour. Thank you Clare
Charlotte Oates says
I usually use Tesco own brand self-raising flour.
Ruchi says
I want to try your easy lemon cake(all in one lemon sponge) recipe however, I need to make it eggless so can you suggest what can I replace it with? The rest of the recipe ingredients remains unchanged? Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately, you can’t simply replace the eggs leaving the rest of the recipe unchanged as they’re fundamental to the structure and rise of the cake. You could try adapting my vegan vanilla cake by switching the vanilla extract for the zest of 1.5 lemons. You could then use my vegan vanilla buttercream as the base recipe for the buttercream, making the adjustments to give lemon flavour (either using zest and juice or lemon extract) as I do in my lemon buttercream recipe.