To ask for your foolproof cake recipe

[LMW1990]

It's DSS birthday on new years day (also my birthday but the almost 4 year old trumps me ). He's asked me for an Avengers Hulk and Iron man cake.

I'm a fairly decent baker... except when it comes to larger cakes! They just don't rise or look thin or uneven.

Do you have a foolproof recipe that will look good for decorating and taste ok?

I've looked at icing modelling videos and I'm pretty confident I can do a passable hulk fist. Not so sure about an Iron man but I'll give it a whirl!

TIA

I get far better results when I bake smaller sponges and stick them together.
However my oven is tiny (microwave sized) so I'd struggle with a large tin anyway.

A Madeira sponge will be easier to carve into shape and more likely to stay moist.

Best way for a basic sponge is to work out how many eggs you want to use ( depending on how big the cake is) then weight the eggs in the shell and use the same measurements of butter, four and sugar. Works for me every time.

For an 8” cake.

8 eggs
500g Stork with Butter (makes it light and fluffy)
500g caster sugar
500g self raising flour (I use ASDA own)
Dash of vanilla extract
Splash of milk

Cream together stork and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Use an electric whisk or the whisk attachment on a stand mixer.

Add your vanilla and splash of milk, then change to the paddle attachment on your stand mixer or use a rubber spatula if doing it by hand.

Fold in the flour 1Tbsp at a time with 1 egg at a time. Continue until all flour and eggs are incorporated.

If using a stand mixer, take the bowl off and give the mixture a final stir with a rubber spatula, incorporating as much air as possible.

Pour the mix into 2 8” tins lined with greaseproof paper and bake at 160C fan for about 1.5h. Check on the cakes halfway through and swap them around in the oven. Check on them periodically and remove them from the oven when a skewer comes out clean and the cakes are springy to the touch.

Hope this helps :)

thestayathomechef.com/the-most-amazing-chocolate-cake/comment-page-11
I made this one for DS's birthday. It's lovely but huge. I don't usually bake and have never before made a cake, so didn't realise how massive it would be. I did put only about half the amount of sugar in, though.

Sandwich tins.

Butter not margarine. Better flavour. (Needs to soften outside fridge.)

Proportions are 4 oz flour, same sugar and butter. 2 eggs. But multiply depending on size of tins, layers required. If you have a lot of frosting/filling and use smallish tins. I'd go for 6s and 3 eggs and 3 tins - then you'll get sufficient height. If the cake is to be shared among a bit group, I'd go for 8s and 4. But still only do 3 layers - in slightly bigger tins.

As a pp said, weight eggs in shells and use same weight in butter (not marg) flour and caster sugar.

Let butter and eggs sit to room temperature first too.

I cream the butter/sugar first to get it fluffy, then slowly fold in the beaten eggs and sifted flour.

For a plain cake I add 1tsp vanilla extra per egg too, tastes much better than plain sponge.

and as another pp said, don't try to make one tall take, general rule I use is 1 egg per 2" cake diameter and I bake 2 cakes to get 2 layers sandwiches together iyswim?

The BBC Easy vanilla cake is my go to for birthday and wedding cakes which need decorated, it's between a Victoria sponge and madiera as it uses 250g self raising and 85g plain flour, it also uses Greek yoghurt which makes it gorgeous and moist. I make two in 2 8inch cake tins and then cut each in half so 4 layers, nice and tall.

Nigella’s chocolate marmalade cake is easy, foolproof and solid for decoration. I tend to do it with raspberry jam instead of marmalade.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food_and_recipes/560312-is-nigella-s-chocolate-orange-marmalade-store-cupboard-cake-any

Thanks all!

How far in advance do you think I could get away with baking the sponge? Should I freeze until the day before? Then decorate. If so, how long do I thaw it for?

I generally freeze all my cakes but if it's just the day before you bake it you won't need to, just wrap in clingfilm. If you are freezing take it out the night before you need it and let it defrost in the cling film, it retains all its moisture.

Thanks all!

I think I'm going to do the sponges today and freeze until Monday when I'll decorate it.

I'll be back when it all goes to pot!

Do you have a foolproof recipe that will look good for decorating The great thing about decorating is that it covers up all sorts of imperfections in the cake.

First cake collapsed.

But success with the second and it's done!!! Party tomorrow.

Tried to upload a picture but it won't work.

Thanks for all your advice!!

Laguna, do you have a link to the recipe please Im having trouble finding it.

For future reference.

I have never had a failure with mary berry recipe including fruit cake. For sponges the recipe uses baking powder which helps with the rise. I always use stork and caster sugar. Granulated sugar can make the texture very grainy.

Lining the tin with parchment also helps to stop the edges burning.

To get a smooth finish on icing use a crumb coating like butter cream this will also help the icing to stick.