Need foolproof birthday cake recipe & icing tips please!

[TheMoistWorldOfSeptimusQuench]

Nothing fancy - just a nice round cake that isn't going to tax me too much

Will be covering it with the sort of icing that you roll out (sorry don't know what the technical term is). I imagine you need to roll out a disc for the top, & then wrap a band of icing around the edge of the cake, but how does one ensure there are now 'seams' or messy overlaps?

All advice very gratefully received

Danceswith.. is there something in the freezing that makes it easier to ice? being dumb I know, but do you defrost before or after icing? Der.

Cake recipe -

2 cups SR Flour
1 Cup sugar
1 cup oil (olive I use)
t baking powder
2 blocks dark chocolate melted or other flavour (vanilla essense need be)
3 eggs

Mix dry ingreds, whisk eggs and sugar in seperate bowl

Mix all together, add oil slowly, mix in flavour whatever u choose.

Whack in the over till its done (30 mins??)

I put it in 2 tin so I can whack a layer of flavour in middle.

Why don't u ice it with pre-made stuff?? Very yummy will be in the same section as the roll.
Then just smooth it with a spoon tipped in hot water.

Just made one for my litle fella. My top tip is cover everything in chocolate buttercream, then buttons or similar and ice Happy Birthday on top. An abundance of chocolate covers up anything! Chocolate fingers round the outside is good too !

I recommend for a good sized party cake that will feed loads, (equivalent to 2 victoria sandwiches):- 12 oz Self-raising flour, 12 oz softened butter or margarine, 12 oz caster sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 4 eggs (put an extra one in if they are small). Put the whole lot in a big bowl and mix it up. Add some food colouring if you want the cake to be say, pink. Add milk a little bit at a time until the mixture just drops gently from the spoon when you lift a bit up. Put this mixture into a roasting tin which is lined with baking parchment. Cook in a medium-heat oven (about 170 c), for at least half an hour or until you can put a skewer into the middle of it and it comes out "cleanly" ie without any mixture clinging to it. Keep putting it back until you get there!
For icing I favour butter icing:- 2 oz softened butter (no marg here please!), to 4 oz icing sugar. Keep those proportions for whatever quantity you want. For the size of cake above you will want about 10-12 oz icing sugar/ 5-6 oz butter. Add whatever colouring you fancy, and to make it easier to spread on you can add a little bit of boiling water, (but make sure it is LITTLE!)Beat it all up really well. A squeeze of lemon juice is a nice addition too.
For decoration the really simple version is just to spread on the butter icing, and then cover it with sweets - smarties, candy flowers, dolly mixtures etc. (The cake isn't really deep so you don't need to make a middle icing layer).
You can make it as complicated as you dare! So if you are feeling brave try this:- I usually get some lining paper, draw round the baking tin or your cake board (whichever is the smaller) to get the maximum size of cake. Then I draw on the paper the picture I want, cut around it, and then put that onto the cooled cake and cut around that. That gives me the basic 2D shape, and then I use different coloured butter icing to make the picture (not as easy to apply as paint though!) The simplest design I have used is a butterfly, but I have also done a spitfire, London bus, Thomas the Tank engine, Angelina Ballerina, my Little Pony, etc etc. The most complicated one I did for my eldest just last week - the Griffindor crest! Sorry if this has been a bit long - take courage and have fun!

Fondant icing does NOT taste horrible!! Apologies to Mrs Badger, but the instructions on that link are not very clear! First, level the top of the cake, cut it in half around the equator and fill with jam and/or buttercream. Put the top back on. You will need a cake board 4 inches bigger than the diameter of your cake. Put the cake in the centre of the board. Use a piece of string to measure up, across and down the cake. Cover the entire cake with a very thin layer of buttercream, and roll out the icing in a circle slightly larger all round than the string - use plenty of icing sugar underneath and keep turning it so it doesn't stick. Take off all your rings, bracelets and watch, and slide your hands palms down underneath the icing, and lift it onto the cake so it is centralised on the top. Fit the icing into the base of the cake by lifting the edge of the icing and easing it into the cake - cup one hand and stroke the icing UPWARDS around the side of the cake. This will get rid of any folds. This sounds more difficult than it is. Make sure the icing fits snugly round the base of the cake, then cut away any excess. Finally, polish the icing on top and around the sides with the flat of your hand until it is shiny and smooth. Do this gently, or you will get indentations in the icing.

Thanks everyone for your help & suggestions. Ended up doing Delia's all in one sponge (brilliant top tip, I will never look back. I speet on Nigella from this day hence). Jam & vanilla buttercream in the middle, iced with more buttercream, shiny purple stars, fairy sitting on the top & those curly silver candles. It was the prettiest cake I have ever made, & DD's little face was a picture. She was thrilled.

Furthermore, the sun shone & the party was great too

does anyone have the delia recipe?

Please help. I made buttercream icing yesterday to the right consistancy, and out in fridge (bowl covered with cling film)

Gone to use it but its hard. If i leave it out to get back to room temperature will it go soft again or do i have to start again. Just used icing sugar, butter and vanilla extract??

Hard as in rock solid or has a kind of crust on it?

I'd leave it to get back to room temp, give it a mix up & see what it's like then if it were me. Saves making another batch only to find that what you already made would have been ok if you left it