Back to Basics

Mummy and Milly day was cancelled this week.  Mill had her boosters so probably spent the day plotting her revenge and I had an illness that made me sound like this "nngggnggngggggggghttt" and to breathe out of my ears.  Instead, we spent the morning watching Mr Men episodes (the original ones, not the dreadful remake) under a blanket on the sofa.  Instead, have some recipe information.

I have a basic cake recipe that, with some minor adjustments, gives you the ability to create any cake in the world, ever.  Ish.

Victoria Sponge and Friends

50g self raising flour (or use plain flour and baking powder - about 1/2 a tsp should do it)

1 egg

50g butter or margarine

50g sugar

Preheat my oven to 170

Measure out the flour, sugar and fat.  I tend to use margarine because most days I am surprised I remember my own name, so getting butter out in advance to soften would require a week of reminders, an alarm and a packet of postit notes.

Allow your child to break the egg (fish out the shell if you're eating it) and whisk whilst you get on with the harder job of creaming together the fat and sugar.

Pour the egg in to the creamed ingredients and mix togegger (I am never correcting that speech mistake - we love it).

Sift in the flour (we do the shake shake sifting dance to this - maybe I should do a tutorial) and stir through.

<< jazz hands >> That's it really.  This is enough to make 6 fairy / cup cakes or a thing single layer sponge cake.  Takes about 15 - 18 minutes in my oven, but they can burn quickly so keep a watch for the last few minutes.

The quantities are easily expanded to make larger cakes.  Double it to make a reasonable single layer sponge, triple to make one you can cut in half or a loaf, quadruple to make a real sponge cake with cream in the middle *drool*

Now for the extras

Clockwise L- R : Nutella cupcakes with nutella frosting, chocolate and cream filled "hedgehog" loaf, dinosaur cakes, chocolate butterfly cake, chocolate orange marble cake, chocolate "pizza" cake, chocolate sponge, chocolate loaf.

Vanilla - the easiest.  Add a drop of vanilla if you're doing a very simple cake.  Don't bother if you're going to drown it in frosting.  "oh mother, we've missed out the vanilla" has never passed Mills lips so I don't think it matters so much with toddlers.

Chocolate.  Add 1 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder to the flour and 1 tbsp of milk once all the ingredients have been mixed.  Throw in a handful of chocolate chips if you have them.

Orange.  Add the zest and juice of half an orange at any point you want.

Lemon.  Add a tsp of lemon juice and the zest of half a lemon at any point.

Chocolate orange.  Replace the milk in the chocolate mix with the juice of half an orange, plus the zest.

Christmas.  Add 20g sultanas (or raisins if that's what you have), 20g mixed peel, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp milk.  This works best on fairy cakes and is great with cinnamon frosting.

Nutella.  Melt 2 tbsp nutella in a microwave for a few seconds (it needs to be soft but not liquid).  Add a tsp to each filled fairy cake and swirl around a bit to mix.

Marble.  Take two (one chocolate, one not) and blob in to the tin.  Swirl together.

Pink.  Take pink colour.  Add.  Sigh

Once you have your cake just decorate with any sort of cream, frosting, fruit, melted chocolate combination you want.  Most of it will be inhaled before it gets near the cake, so always double up.


Sometimes the simple options are the best though.  A couple of bowls of headache coloured icing and assorted sprinkles can keep the small one happy for quite some time.

Please note, I do not keep my child in pajamas all day but they do make excellent messy play outfits!