World Baking Day!

Just a quick post to say that my submission to World Baking Day's 'Victory Bakes' on Twitter received a rosette :) My contribution was the birthday cake I made for my best friend's birthday last July - Victoria sponge filled with jam and fresh cream and decorated with white chocolate finger biscuits, strawberries and purple glitter, adorned with shortbread hearts as a finishing touch. I chose this cake because a) although it was actually very easy to make, I think it looks the most impressive and professional of all my bakes, and b) World Baking Day is about baking for someone you love and my bestie Danielle is one of the people I love most in this world!

On the actual day (Sunday 17th May) I made some rhubarb & custard and peanut butter & chocolate thumbprint cookies for my parents and their friends who came over for dinner - recipe will be up on the blog soon :) 

Did you participate in World Baking Day? If so, what did you make and who was the lucky recipient?

Custard Cream Cake

This recipe is basically a large version of the cupcakes I created but never got round to blogging about after being inspired by the custard cream biscuits I made here: http://cloudninepointone.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/custard-creams-strawberry-milkshake.html.

I made this quick and simple cake on a whim while round my other half's after discovering he had custard powder in the cupboard and it was absolutely scrumptious with its light sponge, smooth icing and lovely vanilla flavour. If you want to make it a bit more of a 'show stopper' bake by all means double the quantities and make as a double layer cake sandwiched with extra custard buttercream and top with some custard cream biscuits or other decorations to finish, but if you're just after something delicious with minimal faff then look no further than the recipe below :)

I love the sunshine yellow colour!

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

• 160g self-raising flour
• 170g caster/granulated sugar
• 170g butter/margarine
• 3 eggs
• 2 heaped tbsp custard powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the custard buttercream icing:

• 100g icing sugar
• 50g butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 1 tbsp custard powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

For the cake:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C and line a round cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Whisk the butter/margarine and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, custard powder and vanilla extract until a batter of a soft dropping consistency has formed.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for around 20-25 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponge comes out clean.
5. When baked, leave to cool on a wire rack before turning the sponge out of the tin. At this stage the cake can be frozen for decorating at a later date if you wish.

For the icing:

1. Place the butter and vanilla extract into a bowl and whisk while gradually adding the icing sugar and custard powder until a thick, fluffy mixture has formed.
2. Spread the icing onto the top of the cooled cake using a palette knife, then dive in!

This recipe can also be used to make cupcakes (yields around 10-12) instead of one large cake: