Chelsea

Chelsea Trusted 135 Years SPOT

Quick and Easy Birthday Cake

By Chelsea Sugar
Quick and Easy Birthday Cake
12 servings
  • 38 reviews

  • Difficulty Easy
  • Prep time 20 mins
  • Cooking time 30 mins
  • Serves
    12
Ingredients

    3 cups Edmonds Standard Grade Flour
    3 tsp Edmonds Baking Powder
    ¼ tsp salt
    250g Tararua Butter, softened
    1 ¾ cups Chelsea Caster Sugar
    4 eggs
    1 tsp vanilla extract (or essence)
    1 cup Meadow Fresh Original Milk

    Vanilla Buttercream Icing
    150g Tararua Butter, softened
    375g (1 packet) Chelsea Vanilla Flavoured Icing Sugar
    2-3 Tbsp hot water 

Method

    Preheat oven to 180°C conventional bake or 160°C fan bake. Grease and line 2 x 20cm cake tins.

    In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the Edmonds Standard Grade Flour, Edmonds Baking Powder and salt.

    In a separate larger bowl, cream Tararua Butter and Chelsea Caster Sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, together with a tablespoon of the flour mixture to prevent curdling, and beat well after each addition. Stir through the vanilla extract.

    Add a portion (around ¼) of the remaining flour mixture to the creamed mixture, followed by a portion of the milk and stir in with a wooden spoon or spatula until combined. Repeat until all of the Edmonds Standard Grade Flour and Meadow Fresh Original Milk has been added.

    Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake tins (you can weigh the mixture to ensure even layers). Hold the filled tins slightly above the kitchen bench and drop onto the bench a couple of times. This helps to release the air bubbles and make the cakes more level.

    Bake for 30 minutes in pre-heated oven, until cakes are a light golden colour and spring back when pressed lightly in the middle. Cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then remove and place on a wire rack to cool. You can wrap each layer in plastic wrap to help seal in the moisture. Once cooled, sandwich the layers together with half of the buttercream icing and use the other half to ice the top of the cake.

    Vanilla Buttercream Icing: 
    Beat the butter until smooth, pale and fluffy. Gradually add the Chelsea Vanilla Flavoured Icing Sugar, half a cup at a time, with enough of the hot water to make a creamy mixture. Beat between each addition until fluffy. 

If you like this recipe you may love these

Reviews

Average Rating
438
(38 reviews)


Too hard to assemble. The instructions on adding flour and milk were poor. It blew up my electric beater. It didn’t cook correctly and took BBCan hour instead of 30 minutes. I won’t make this recipe again or recommend it.

Can I use heavy cream instead of Milk?

Loved making it for my 2 year old’s birthday. How can I make it dairy free for my nephew’s first birthday? Thanks

Hi Chelsea does this cake shape easily? I need the top flat to put a cake decal on top :) thanks

Made this cake, the mixture is far to thick. Cooks unevenly there re many easier and tastier recipes out there. I'm disappointed, at least it tastes fine otherwise I'd have it straight in the bin.

Hai. Can I use margarine instead of butter would that be same? I've been baking using so many butter recipes but it turns out very oily and flaky. Help

Not sure what happened but mine went flat as a pancake! haha yes I did add baking powder!

I don’t know what I did wrong but it’s been in the oven for an hour and it’s still soup. It’s probably not the recipes fault but as a result I can’t rate this five stars

The cake is easy and turned it great the 2nd time I made it. As I beat the butter and sugar for longer. Used little less sugar in the cake as was to use icing on it. Love it

I think this cake mix was outstanding, it was textured and the perfect birthday cake for my little sister thank you so much for this recipe it saved the day

Not tried it yet-Can I use oil instead of butter? As per my experience cakes with oil last longer and are not dry. Whereas the butter cakes dry out after 24hrs if not iced or frosted, my family is not a fan of frosting /icing anyway.


CHELSEA SUGAR: Hi there, butter contributes a lot of flavour to this cake. We wouldn't recommend substituting oil in this recipe. It will keep well if stored in an airtight container.

Hi Chelsea I was wondering if I wanted to make a cake with chocolate and vanilla swirls through it could I turn half of this recipe into chocolate mixture? If so how much coco would I need to use?


CHELSEA SUGAR: Hi there, we haven't tried this but think it could work. You will need to replace some of the flour for the chocolate half (rather than just adding cocoa in) - try 1/3 cup.

So easy but not the instructions

It was sooo yummy!

Just amazing I was making it for a birthday and it was delicious.

Have made this cake before and it was amazing so i tried it again but with a twist i put 1 tsp of cinnamon in it and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg it is the best tasted great

I'm so sad that mine didn't work! I followed the instructions - don't know why it didn't work. The cake top is cooked but not the whole thing. I will have to throw it away. What was wrong?
CHELSEA SUGAR: Hi there, sorry to hear that! If the top is cooked but the rest of the cake isn't, it sounds like the cake may have been placed too high in the oven (in the centre or just below is ideal). Otherwise it might just have needed a bit longer in the oven.

Hi Chelsea, can this recipe be made using gluten free flour?
CHELSEA SUGAR: Hi there, we haven't tested this but think it should work. As gluten-free baking can dry out more quickly, we would recommend eating on the day of baking.

An easy cake to make. Absolutely delicious and have just made it again. I spread a bit of strawberry jam on before putting icing in the middle and after putting top cake on just had enough icing to cover the whole cake.

Amazing! Had lots of flavour and was very easy to bake, j did use the Chelsea’s chocolate icing for a change and really liked it!

Followed the recipe to a T but the mixture turned out very thick. The cakes did not rise very well, so when I cut to level them for stacking they were even thinner. 2 stars for the taste of the cake but unfortunately I will be embarassed serving this up for the birthday tonight. I do not recommend this recipe.

I’ve followed the recipe down to the finest detail but my cake mixture seems really really thick - praying it turns out ok

Can I half the recipe and just make one cake?
CHELSEA SUGAR:
Yes, you can.

I was a bit unclear about how long to beat up the buttercream. I didn't want it to split, but I dont think it's supposed to taste all gritty between my teeth. Too late now, cake is iced.
I also had a disaster of a sinking shrinking cake, which was a real shame as I already made all the fondant decorative pieces to scale to a slightly larger cake.

Hi Chelsea,
This cake recipe is awesome it tastes and looks delicious and I will definitely be making this cake again. Thanks for the help.

Would this cake be ok to add food colouring to make a rainbow cake?
CHELSEA: Absolutely!

image description

LOOKS GREAT & I WANT TO BAKE ON SUNDAY..THANKS A LOT

Hi Chelsea , I’m just wondering if I can add chocolate chips in the cream mixture?
Chelsea Sugar:
Yes, you could do that.

Hi there
I have a question - if I want to use a 15cm cake tin (for a taller cake), what temperature should I use on a fan forced oven?
CHELSEA: we'd suggest using the same temperature stated in the recipe. 160 fan forced.

I made this for my baby's 1st birthday, turned out beautifully! Especially as my processor is broken so used electric beaters for the whole thing and it was very easy. They weren't quite cooked at 30mins, ended up being about 45mins. Just used plain icing sugar for the buttercream, and sandwiched with a layer of raspberry jam and buttercream. I will be making this again for future birthdays:)

Hi there. Just wondering does this cake freeze well or best to eat straight away?
CHELSEA; Hi there,yes this cake freezes well.

Hi chelsea I was just wondering how tall a single cake is because I am wanting to do a four layer cake but im not sure if I should cut 2 in half!
CHELSEA: Hi there, this is a pretty large cake. We think cutting each layer in half to make four layers would be the way to go. Enjoy!

I have a question! Can this cake be made 2 days in advance? (the cake part, and then iced on the day?) Thanks!!
CHELSEA: Hi there, yes that will be fine. Just make sure you store it in an airtight container.

Amazing easy recipe for a hater baker!!
I did it dairy free with non dairy butter and almond milk- heaven!
I made on 9'' by 9'' and two small circular pans.
All cooked through nicely and ready to ice! Wish me luck!!

Hi, this is just a question. Is it possible for me to bake it in one pan and then just slice the cake in half after it is baked? Thanks, Sarah
CHELSEA: Hi Sarah, good question! We would recommend using two pans though. This makes a large mixture so you would need quite a big pan to fit it all in. Also, you might have trouble then with the cake not cooking in the centre while being overcooked on the outside.

I have been using this recipe for the past 3 months and my customers that I bake for absolutely love it! I make rainbow coloured cupcakes and normal vanilla. It´s a favourite :)

Beautiful versatile cake.

this is the best for my great uncles birthday :)

Load More

Products used in this recipe

Sign in