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Simple Birthday Cake Recipe

Best Birthday Cake Recipe in UK

The best birthday cake recipes are those that are simple to execute and consistently work well. So this post will be about the most perfectly simple, yet impressive birthday cake - a lovely light vanilla sponge layer cake, with beautifully buttery Swiss meringue butter cream and that glossy dark chocolate drip off-setting the sweetness that we love so much (to those few thinking "noooo not another chocolate drip cake!" - what are you like?! Why would you EVER say no to more chocolate?!) 

Simple chocolate drip birthday cake recipe

Ok, I will be upfront and say this is not as easy as flinging an all-in-one batter in the oven and producing a generally crowd-pleasing Victoria Sponge. Sometimes you need something with more of a wow-factor, more oomph, more pizzazz. And as good as a Victoria Sponge is, it’s not quite up to special birthdays or really impressing the guests.

Simple chocolate drip cake recipe

Catherine Frawley, my friendly food photographer friend and novice baker, tested the cake recipe (and also took all the lovely photos) and had this to say about it:  

"Whilst I’m a pretty confident cook and baker, masking a cake competently (and not just saying it’s rustic) is something that needs some practice. And two non-negotiable tips from Reshmi are a turntable (not the musical variety! Affiliate link) and an angled palette knife. 

Holding the palette knife at a 45-degree angle and turning the cake on the table will take some getting used to but buttercream is forgiving and you can keep adding and taking away until you have a smooth even crumb coating.

I followed Reshmi’s birthday cake recipes exactly as stated and it turned out to be my most impressive bake ever."

Bookmark this and keep it in your arsenal of sturdy, fool-proof, impress-everybody recipes.  

Simple Birthday Cake Recipe

Prep Time: 20m | Cook Time: 30m | Total Time: 50m
Serves: 10 | Calories: 300 

Vanilla Sponge Birthday Cake Recipe

Ingredients for Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe

250g Butter (softened) and a little extra to grease tins with

250g Caster Sugar

4 Eggs, medium

250g Self Raising Flour (sifted)

5g Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

½ tsp Vanilla Extract

 

Easy Method For Vanilla Sponge For Cake Recipe  

1) Preheat oven 160 degrees Celsius.

2) Cream butter and sugar together till light and fluffy with the paddle attachment on a stand mixer (or if you have the guns, whisk). 

3) Add in the eggs and beat on medium speed till incorporated. Toss in the dry ingredients and vanilla and beat till just combined and no lumps are remaining - be careful to not over mix.

4) Grease two 6 inch tins well with the extra butter. Divide the batter evenly between both tins and level the tops with the back of a spoon. Bake for 25-30 minutes, checking for doneness by inserting a cocktail stick or paring knife in the middle of the sponge - it's ready when it comes out just clean with no wet smears.

5) Leave them to cool in tins at room temperature for 15 minutes before releasing from tins and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

6) Once cooled completely, wrap cling film around each sponge individually to preserve moisture and freshness. At this point you could even freeze the sponges for up to a month to use at a later date. 

 Vanilla sponge cake recipe for birthdays

The Swiss Meringue Buttercream Birthday Cake Recipe

Ingredients for the Swiss Meringue Buttercream

250g Egg Whites (or roughly egg whites of 6-7 eggs)

375g Caster Sugar

500g Butter, cubed and softened

¼ tsp Salt

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method For Swiss Meringue Buttercream For Cake Recipe

1) Place egg whites and caster sugar in a clean stand mixer bowl with no traces of fat over a simmering saucepan of water over medium heat. Make sure the water in the saucepan does not touch the bottom of the bowl containing the egg whites and sugar. Whisk with a hand whisk until all sugar is dissolved, the mixture is frothy and has reached 60-degrees C or is hot to touch.

2) Place the stand mixer bowl into the stand mixer and whisk on high speed with the whisk attachment until the mixture has reached glossy stiff peaks and the bowl is cool to touch. This is now the Swiss meringue base.

3) Add in vanilla, salt and soft cubes of butter on low speed till all combined. The mixture will look curdled and scare you. Don't worry or panic. Increase the speed to high and beat until it all comes together as a smooth and silky buttercream (takes about 5-8 minutes to reach this stage). You now have the most delicious buttercream known to man and can further flavour it with cocoa powder, fruit purees, lemon juice, caramel, spiced rum, anything you fancy. 

4) Place your cake board on the turntable and smear two tablespoons of frosting in the centre. Fix a sponge layer in the middle of the cake board and using an angled spatula spread a layer of frosting evenly on top. Sandwich with the other sponge layer and spread another even layer of frosting on the top.

5) Spread a thin layer of frosting on the sides using the angled spatula to smooth and take off any excess buttercream. This layer is called the crumb coat. Place the cake in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up before smoothing another layer of frosting around the sides (unless you want to keep things naked, that's cool too!). You can smooth any lumps and uneven spots by running the spatula under hot water to warm it up and drying it before smoothing over the bumps. Stick it back in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Swiss meringue buttercream birthday cake recipe

You can now glaze the cake using our tried, tested and highly hailed Chocolate Drip Cake Recipe. We used sprinkles and piped stars of buttercream using a large star nozzle and a piping bag over the top. And more sprinkles. Cuz...it's a perfect birthday cake!

Simple tasty birthday cake recipe - Chocolate Drip

Please don't forget to show off your creations of easy and simple cake recipes by tagging @angesdesucre and #angesdesucre on Instagram. I'm sure they'll be worth all the heart-eye emojis in the world.

Lots of love,

Reshmi xoxo

And if baking your own birthday cake isn't possible check out our Birthday Cakes here which can be delivered anywhere in London and nearby.

17 Responses

Kylie

Kylie

July 16, 2022

I’m making this the day before would I store it in a cake carrier in the fridge or on the bench? How tall does this cake come out? Super excited to make this!

Hamari Bakes

Hamari Bakes

June 06, 2022

Hello Ma’am Your Bakes Incredible

Rahul Chavda

Rahul Chavda

April 16, 2022

Wish you many many happy returns of the day Happy Birthday

MD.MIZANUR RAHAMAN (SOJIB)

MD.MIZANUR RAHAMAN (SOJIB)

April 07, 2022

Good

Simran begum

Simran begum

April 07, 2022

Nice

Shilam Kumari

Shilam Kumari

January 06, 2022

Thanku google

Indiagift

Indiagift

December 03, 2021

Really nice post. Thanks for sharing this beautiful post.

meneurchocolates

meneurchocolates

October 21, 2021

Yamm!!! Woow!!!! The cakes looks very delicious dear. And i love your blog content as well!!
Thanks for sharing.

Sounik

Sounik

October 20, 2021

Cake

Babli bano

Babli bano

October 11, 2021

Kya mujhe gift de sakte ho

Rishi thouna

Rishi thouna

September 14, 2021

This birthday makes me a peaceful life….. In my further….

Priyanka

Priyanka

August 18, 2021

That’s amazing day her people in the life so me many excitement of the day ❤️

Kalanzi Ruqqayah

Kalanzi Ruqqayah

December 15, 2020

Woow!!!! The cakes looks delicious

Kalanzi Ruqqayah

Kalanzi Ruqqayah

December 15, 2020

Woow!!!! The cakes looks delicious

Solademi Oluwadamilola Esther

Solademi Oluwadamilola Esther

December 06, 2020

D cake is fantastic

Leah

Leah

August 06, 2019

Can I use a normal butter cream recipe as I can’t eat raw eggs due to allergy.

last year's girl

last year's girl

September 22, 2017

FINE, I’ll bookmark the recipe, but I’m still gonna make a mess of it…

Congrats on the arrival of tiny Mr X-Ray Reshmi, he’s beautiful.

xx

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