Help me bake my DD a birthday cake!

[PuzzledBear]

I have a very limited baking repertoire. I make chocolate cakes. Sometimes I put chocolate icing on top, and sometimes, when requested to put a picture on top, I make royal icing and decorate. And that's it. It's worked fine until now, when DD2 has announced that she wants a plain sponge cake with a picture on the top. How do I do this? I am ok with simple instructions but do not have a recipe for a plain sponge cake (looks sadly at very successful chocolate cake recipe).

I too want to make a birthday cake so looking forward to ideas

Nigella Lawson's buttermilk birthday cake is really nice and reliable: hhtp://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/.../Birthday_Cake.pdf

What picture does she want? On sponge cakes I make the main icing a meringue buttercream, and then use fondant or sweets for detail.

image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/.../Birthday_Cake.pdf

Trying again...

Curses. If you google Nigella buttermilk birthday cake, you should find it. The guardian pdf I was trying to post was my first result.

Plain sponge cake is easy:
3 eggs
6oz SR flour
6oz butter or marg
6oz caster sugar

Just use the same ratio and increase the quantities for a bigger cake (eg 4,8,8,8).

Bob's your uncle

Delia's all-in-one sponge cake recipe is failsafe, IME. My children have had many a birthday cake made from that. Google it and have a look at her website.

What picture does she want on the top?

I use Butter cake recipe :-

125g softened butter
Teaspoon vanilla essence
165g caster sugar - beat all three well.
Beat in 2 eggs
Stir in 225g self r flour and 125 ml milk in 2 batches.

Picture on top - easiest way is roll out ready roll and cut to size of cake, use apricot jam to glue it on. Have your pic drawn/copied ready and cut out, pit in top of more ready roll and use as a template. Add details in more ready roll or paint on with a brush.

What does she mean by picture. You can get printed cake toppers
like these I ordered some for dd's birthday last week and they came the next day

Brilliant, thank you. The picture is a photo, so I plan to do royal icing and get a cake topper made. What should I use as the filling? Jam?

I use the recipe on the side of the Stork tub

Jam or buttercream both fine. This cake, also Nigella, is super easy as you stick it all in a food processor. It's got a nice, firm texture, but is oddly like shop-bought, iyswim? I really like it, but it's not like a basic sponge.

www.nigella.com/recipes/view/best-birthday-cake-118
Oh dear lord. I give up.

Wah. www.nigella.com/recipes/view/best-birthday-cake-118

I have never had good results with the Nigella buttermilk cake think I am the only person in the world, though!
However,
6oz SR flour
6oz marge
6oz sugar
3 eggs
1tsp baking power
Works every time. Do it in 2 7-inch cake tins at 190 for 20/25 mins. When cooled, spread jam and then sandwich together. Yummy.

I made this one.

It's a simple chocolate victoria sponge with chocolate fingers around it a some sweets on top.

looks impressive but is very simple.

Marvellous. I think I can probably cope now. Thank you!