To ask what your favourite fail safe cake recipe is

[polkadotpjs]

I've made a few chocolate "cakes of disappointment" as we have named them lately. The effort of baking and no nice reward. I've a good chocolate cake recipe but it's a very moist (bleurgh) and more pudding dark chocolate taste and whilst ideal as an adult birthday cake, it's not great for kids

I love a coffee cake but yet to make a lush one, bored of Victoria sponge as I've made so many getting it right during Covid times.
Share some so I can rediscover my love of baking?

Oops forgot link www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/cake-recipes/austrian-coffee-and-walnut-cake-with-coffee-cream

@howdidigettobe50something - you are absolutely bang on. Weight the eggs first, then follow the yellow brick road... That's what the old lady next door taught me in 1968...

225g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
225g self-raising flour
1 lemon, zested

For the drizzle topping
1½ lemons, juiced
85g caster sugar

For every cake! I just substitute the lemon for whatever flavour I would like. Have been told it is the best cake by many mums! But the lemon drizzle is still the best!

I've not tried doing the weighing thing. I may try that at weekend. I tend to make Mary Berry fairy cake recipe for cup cakes doubled up for birthday cake. Slightly less buffer than flour and sugar 4oz to 5oz of sugar and flour and it's lovely Son will likely ask for that as his bday cake next week but I'm not a decorator. I did candy cane cake last year - shoved in and sweets on top. That's my ability level! But my birthday cake always gets eaten - my mum got DS1 a beautiful cake but it tasted dry and nasty.

@PurpleSproutingSomething 4 eggs

Another vote for Taina Ramsay's lemon drizzle.

I always used to make a Viccy Sponge with 6:3 or 8:4 ratios (in imperial), but I don't know what the metric version is!

I always used to make a Viccy Sponge with 6:3 or 8:4 ratios (in imperial), but I don't know what the metric version is!

I'm the opposite, I can just about use 'cups' but 'oz' completely confuses me. (I know they are on bottles/sippy cups but they also seem to be used for dry ingredients/flour)

It's so much easier! A tablespoon is 1oz, so in a pinch, you don't need scales. We always replaced 2oz of flour with cocoa powder in the cake, but drinking chocolate powder for the buttercream filling if we did a chocolate one.

Another vote for Tana Ramsay's lemon drizzle cake. I make shit cakes but this one always turns out right.

Weigh the eggs in their shell - use same weight in SR flour, butter and caster sugar.

Roughly I use 1 egg per 2 inch of cake tin, so 6" = 3 eggs, 8" = 4 eggs etc etc.

For every egg use 1tsp vanilla or could swap out for lemon (1 whole lemon juice and rind per 2 eggs).

For chocolate substitute 1/5 of the weight of SR flour with cocoa powder.

Eggs & butter at room temperature, cream butter and sugar first then add flour and lastly the beaten eggs.

Oven no higher than 160C

When you take the tin out of the over wrap it in a damp cloth - round the sides and over the top while it cools.

BBC no bake peach Melba cheesecake

Mary Berry's lemon drizzle cake, always perfect

Any Delia Smith cake recipe! Hers are the best

Came on to say Tana Ramsay's lemon drizzle cake too-so easy but I always make more drizzle.

Super Easy Tea Loaf BBC Good Food
4 ingredients.

Recommended. Never failed even non-bakers!

Google Jane’s Patisserie. The chocolate log cake is amazing. So it the Biscoff cake.
All the recipes look amazing but I’ve only tried these 2 so far.

I must make a chocolate log !

Manor House cake, the MB recipe. Just as lovely when made gluten free. Even when it's on the turn and a little stale, quite palatable spread with butter.

Nigella's chocolate gingerbread from Feast.

Delia's "all in one" sponge has never failed me for use as a birthday cake.

Mary Berry's chocolate fudge cake is my kid's favourite and always works perfectly. I often switch out the fudge icing for something a bit lighter.

Lemon drizzle and Victoria sandwiches are perennial favourites. For something a bit different I make the Scandilicious blueberry and elderflower upside down cake, but it'a probably a bit summery for now.

Honey cake

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/honeycake_67599/amp

I’m not a big cake fan, and usually it would need to be chocolate, but this is amazing.

So many good suggestions, I'm going to try a few of these!

I love this recipe barefootcontessa.com/recipes/lemon-yogurt-cake
It's a very moist slightly tangy lemon drizzle cake, and it's very easy to make.

Basic Victoria sponge, 4 large eggs, 200g each of soft butter, SR flour, caster sugar. No vanilla essence, I loathe the stuff.
Goes in 2 x 20 cm greased and lined tins.

Sandwiched together with blackcurrant jam - slightly tart so goes v well with very sweet cake.

Should have said chocolate LOAF cake 😂