Have you always wanted to make a vanilla or chocolate cake? Or a tasty cake with a frosting layer that can be decorated? Are the recipes you have found not working because the cake collapses or the cake is still too soft? Below you will find a guaranteed good recipe for making a delicious chocolate or vanilla cake.
What do you need?
It is of course important that you have the right things at home. It doesn’t take much to make a cake.
You need
- Mixer with whisk
- Batter bowl
- Spatula
- Cake tin or cake tin (26cm)
- Sieve (you)
- Oven
If you do not have a spatula at home, you could also scoop the batter into the cake tin or cake tin with a normal spoon. This is only more difficult than a spatula.
Which ingredients are needed?
We assume a basic cake with buttercream and a frosting layer. The choice of the chocolate cake is entirely up to you.
For the batter
- 225 gr. butter
- 225 gr. brown sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 175 gr. self-raising flour
- 60 gr. cocoa powder (only add when making a chocolate cake)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (add only when making a vanilla cake)
- 1 tablespoon of warm water
For the buttercream
- 350 gr. powdered sugar
- 225 gr. butter
- 1-2 tablespoons of warm water
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
For the soft icing
- 500 gr. powdered sugar
- 1-5 tablespoons of warm water
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
How do you make the cake?
Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. This makes preparing the dough easier. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Smooth the butter and add the sugar and eggs in one go. Mix this until you have a smooth mixture. You can also add a sachet of vanilla sugar. Sift the self-raising flour through the mixture so that no lumps get into the dough. These will not go out once they are in the baking tin. Then mix this again with the mixer. For the chocolate variant, sieve the cocoa powder over the mixture and let it mix well. For the vanilla variant, add vanilla extract and let it mix equally well. Remove the mixture from under the mixer and add a tablespoon of warm water. Stir this well with the spatula or spoon until the mixture is completely smooth. Grease the cake tin or cake tin with a little butter. Then spoon or pour the mixture into the greased tin. Place the baking pan in the center of the oven and bake for 15 to 25 minutes. Prick the dough with a skewer to see if it has baked enough. If the dough still sticks to the stick, you can leave the cake in the oven for 2-5 minutes. If no dough sticks to it, the cake is ready and can be taken out of the oven. Let it cool for 10 minutes in the baking pan. Then remove the cake from the baking tin and let it cool for another 10 minutes.
How do you make the buttercream?
When the cake is in the oven to bake, you have time to make the buttercream. Smooth the butter as you did the cake. Then sift the icing sugar over the butter. If desired, cocoa powder can also be sifted here for a chocolate taste. It may be that the buttercream is now too thick. Therefore, add a tablespoon of warm water to the cream and stir well. If you think it is still too thick, you can make it thinner by adding more water. Do not pour in too much water, as the cream may become too thin. It is better to throw in small amounts, it is no longer possible to remove it!
Cut the pie in half with a pie cutter or large knife and carefully place them next to each other. If desired, you can spread a layer of jam on the bottom part of the cake first (strawberries or cherries). Then spread a thick layer of buttercream on the bottom cake piece and carefully put the top cake piece back on top. Don’t push it too much or the buttercream will come out.
Now cover all sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream so that it is smooth (so that the cut edges are no longer visible).
How do you make the soft icing?
When the cake is completely covered with the buttercream you can make the icing. Don’t do this before! The glaze becomes harder quickly and therefore more difficult to spread! Put the 500 grams of icing sugar in a mixing bowl and slowly add 1 to 5 tablespoons of water. The more water that is added to the sugar, the thinner the icing will become. If the mixture remains too thick, there is a chance that the top of the cake will be broken by it. If the icing gets too thin, chances are it will run off the cake. Try to make the icing slightly thin. This way it stays soft and gives the cake a delicious taste!
Optionally, coloring can be added to the glaze to create a cheerful top layer. For a chocolate flavor, 20 grams of cocoa powder can of course also be added.
The cake is best when the icing has been given an hour to harden. If you want to decorate the cake with marzipan or fondant, do this right after the icing is on the cake. If the icing has already hardened, the decoration can be glued on with a little bit of leftover buttercream
A cake, delicious for birthdays or parties, or just to spoil yourself. Also nice for children’s parties, because this dough can also be used to make cupcakes. Then use the buttercream on top of the cupcake, after which the cupcakes can be decorated with various decorations!