Very Vanilla Birthday Cake

vanilla, buttercream and sprinkles. what more do you need?

Sep 13, 2024

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Hello friends,

It was my birthday last week and I celebrated with a lovely low key brunch at mine with friends. Being a twin, sharing my birthday is all I’ve ever known and each year I ask my sister what cake I should make. A Colin the Caterpillar cake from Marks and Spencers is mandatory because tradition, but I’ll still bake something. As a self proclaimed ‘girl with basic tastes’, my sister will usually ask for a vanilla cake layered with buttercream and raspberry jam. She also explicitly instructs me not to use any cardamom, tahini or anything too ‘out there’. I oblige most of the time, opting for classic crowdpleasers that I know will go down well. This year however, I wasn’t in the mood to make a big cake. I actually decided on a big fat lemon meringue pie instead. And whilst it was a fun idea that was received well, I did miss the ritual of eating a slice of leftover cake for breakfast the next day. Lemon meringue pie does not keep well (weeping meringue is no fun at all) and I simply needed that gentle hug of buttery cake in the morning with a coffee in bed.

So, here’s the cake I would’ve made. Vanilla is always always a good idea for a birthday cake. A big fudgy chocolate cake is also an excellent choice but a moist vanilla cake complete with buttercream and sprinkles won’t ever be turned down.

The older I get though, the less layers I want in a birthday cake. If my memory serves me well, for my 24th or 25th birthday I think I made a 6 layer cake. Crazy. I couldn’t imagine wanting to make something like that now; it took days of planning and even more to execute because of all the different elements. It definitely had big showstopper energy but these days even making a three layer cake feels like a lot of effort and requires too much mental preparation. A good sandwich cake seems like the perfect sweet spot but I’ll always bang on about the joys of a simple one layer cake. Traybakes are included in that category and that’s what we have today.

It’s a simple but delicious cake, generous with vanilla bean paste, buttery and sweet. It uses quite a bit of sour cream in the batter which aids in keeping the crumb dense and moist. If you like madeira cake, then you’ll love this. Typically I’m a Swiss meringue buttercream girl but when it comes to a cake like this, it’s crying out for a classic sweet American frosting. Although sweet, it’s not sickly, and the higher cake to buttercream ratio helps to balance it all out. And don’t forget the sprinkles!

OTHER CAKES

Before we get into the recipe, I thought it’d be helpful to share a little list of other cakes you could make for a birthday in case the vanilla doesn’t quite do it for you. There are a mix of layered, traybakes and non conventional cakes to choose from!

Lemon & Summer Berry Cake with Mascarpone (pictured above)

Jammy Coconut Cake

Earl Grey, Orange & White Chocolate Traybake : recipe in A Good Day to Bake

Chocolate, Buttermilk & Hazelnut Cake

Clotted Cream Chocolate Chip Cake : recipe in I’ll Bring Dessert

Cherry Bakewell Cake

Chocolate Cherry & Amaretto Cake (pictured above) : recipe in I’ll Bring Dessert

VERY VANILLA BIRTHDAY CAKE

This cake can serve a lot of people, just cut the pieces as big or small as you need. It benefits from being made a day in advance; the crumb settles and you get moist, dense pieces that slice cleanly into perfect squares.

Vanilla beans are pricey so in recipes like this I tend to just use vanilla bean paste. This is my preferred choice instead of extracts and you just get such a better flavour.

RECIPE

serves 12-16 (or more with smaller slices)
equipment: 9x13 inch (23cm x 33cm) traybake tin

300g unsalted butter, softened
350g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
5 large eggs
400g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
300g sour cream, room temperature

Buttercream:
250g unsalted butter, very soft
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
200g icing sugar, sifted
big pinch of salt
30ml hot milk

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 160c fan/180c. Grease and line a 9x13 inch cake tin making sure to leave enough overhanging baking paper to lift out the cake later.

Add the butter, sugar and vanilla to a bowl. Cream together well for 3-4 minutes with a stand mixer or electric whisk until very pale and fluffy. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl often.

Add in the eggs one at a time, beating the mixture well after you add each one.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

Pour about a third of this into the butter mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Pour in half of the sour cream and mix again. Repeat with the alternating additions of flour and sour cream, finishing with the flour.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45 - 50 minutes until well browned and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Set the cake aside to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the buttercream. Add the soft butter and vanilla to a bowl and using an electric whisk or stand mixer, beat for about 2 minutes until very creamy and lightened in colour.

Add in the icing sugar and salt and mix on low speed to incorporate before turning up the speed to medium-high for 3-4 minutes until thick and pale. With the mixer running, pour in the hot milk and beat until the buttercream is smooth.

Turn the speed down low and mix slowly for a minute to get rid of any big air bubbles. Set it aside at room temperature until ready to use.

When you’re ready to assemble, spoon the buttercream on top of the cake and spread it out evenly with an offset spatula. Top with sprinkles if using and slice into squares to serve.