This is the only birthday cake recipe you’ll ever need. It’s super easy, keeps it’s shape and tastes all kinds of delicious!
I think it was Julia Childs who said “a birthday party without cake is just a meeting” and how right she was! I’ve always been a big fan of birthdays, whether it be my own or someone else’s and especially so since my diagnosis because let’s face it, getting older is a privilege denied to many.
Can’t stop making birthday cakes, won’t stop making birthday cakes. Here’s that one time, I made the Picture Perfect Birthday Cake for David. Did I say that this cake can take a lot of weight, including a tonne of lollies!
This is birthday cake is a beaut – because it keeps it’s shape whatever tin or mould you cook it in, and is super easy to ice and decorate! We used this recipe for the Moana Birthday Cake…
And the Swimming Pool Birthday Cake too.
And let’s not forget the Train Birthday Cake – that’s the one that almost got us divorced!
These quantities are enough to make a cake in a make a deep 20cm square cake or a 23cm round cake and are perfect for being sandwiched together. The best thing about this recipe is that it lends itself to almost any shaped cake tin, I’ve even made it in a slice pan as with the Beer Mug Cake, and the results are perfect every single time!
This cake doesn’t just bake great, it tastes great too. Whenever I share this cake, people always come and ask me about the recipe because it’s that good. The buttermilk is the real hero of this cake, giving it the most wonderful flavour and a marvellously moist texture. I usually freeze the cakes in advance and after defrosting, they’re as fresh as ever! Here’s a flashback to that Koala Cake I made last year.
As if I couldn’t get any more excited about this recipe (because it’s all about my two favourite things, birthdays and cake,) I’ve now added a Thermomix conversion so everyone can have their birthday cake and eat it!
Have you got a go-to recipe? What’s your dream birthday cake?
Ingredients
250g plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¼ teaspoon salt
125g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
3 large eggs
200ml buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
How to – Traditional
- Preheat oven to 180 C/160C fan-forced.
- Sift flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt together into a bowl and set aside. Pour the buttermilk into a measuring jug and stir in the vanilla and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Reduce the speed and add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 30 seconds between additions.
- Add alternating amounts of the flour mixture and then the vanilla-buttermilk, blending well after each addition. This should take about 3-5 minutes.
- Pour into the prepared tin or tins and bake for about 30 minutes if using 1 big tin (about 20 minutes if using 2 sandwich tins) until the cake is beginning to shrink away from the sides and a cake tester or skewer comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes before unmoulding to let it cool completely. If you’re using a super fancy mould with a lot of patterning, allow to cool for 20 minutes in the tin before unmoulding.
How to – Thermomix
- Preheat oven to 180 C/160C fan-forced.
- Add flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt to TM bowl and combine for 5 seconds on speed 5. Set aside.
- Chop butter for 5 seconds on speed 7. Add sugar and mix for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides and base of bowl.
- Add the butterfly and mix for 1 minute on speed 4.Scrape down sides and base of bowl.
- Remove butterfly and the MC from the lid. Add eggs one at a time through the hole in the lid, with the blades running on speed 4, mixing for 5-10 seconds between each addition.Scrape down lid and sides of bowl.
- Add all the other ingredients and mix for 5 seconds on speed 4. Scrape down lid and sides of bowl and mix for a further 10 seconds on speed 4.
- Pour into the prepared tin or tins and bake for about 30 minutes if using 1 big tin (about 20 minutes if using 2 sandwich tins) until the cake is beginning to shrink away from the sides and a cake tester or skewer comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes before unmoulding to let it cool completely. If you’re using a super fancy mould with a lot of patterning, allow to cool for 20 minutes in the tin before unmoulding.
Other info
TIP! To decorate, I can’t go past Bill’s Vanilla Whipped Buttercream
