Our Cake of the Moment

This is our favourite cake lately, Vanilla Cake. So nice and light, moist and delicate at the same time. It's raining today, so perfect for a spot of baking. Ella loves to pitch in and eat the flour before anything else is achieved then she's off to play! The girls went through a stage of not wanting icing, which confused me, what kid doesn't like icing? That's the best part! Anyway, they're over that stage now, it'll be pink icing with little silver balls, 100s and 1000s thrown in for good measure. But I have a different icing recipe for you, much more grown up. 

You can cut this cake in half and layer with jam and cream or make thick chocolate icing and stick rasberries on top - the most delicous way I think!

250g butter, softened

250g castor sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

290g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

185 ml milk (cream or buttermilk can also be used)  

Icing

100g butter, softened

200g icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

about 3 tablespoons of milk

Heat the oven to 180c, line a 24cm springform cake tin.

Beat butter and sugar very well. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract, sift in flour and baking powder. Beat well, adding milk a little at a time. You'll have a thick creamy batter. Scrape it out into the cake tin, cook for about 45 minutes, leave to cool before icing.

For the icing, put butter into a bowl and gradually beat in the icing sugar. Add the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of milk and beat well. Then slowly beat in the rest of the milk, stopping when you have a smooth but fairly stiff icing. Gently spread over the cake, it doesn't have to be perfect. Enjoy with a good coffee or cup of tea!