Growing up with Granny baking at home, people are always shocked to find out that as kids, myself and my sisters weren’t big cake fans. We’d always have beautiful birthday cakes created by Granny but we would never have much interest in actually eating them. However there’s one person who has always been loyal to eating Granny’s cakes – that is Papa. Perhaps that is why the tale of his 40th Birthday Angel Cake is all the more facetious.
It’s a cake that I myself have always enjoyed. Even if I wasn’t too fussed for cake as a whole, I always loved the look of Angel Cake. Layered cakes are somewhat common these days but this lovely little sponge is the true original. Another life-long fan of Angel Cake is Papa. But unlike me, he has always been a fan of cake too, being Granny’s dedicated cake-cut-off-consumer for decades!
You would think that such a loyal fan of Granny would also be in receipt of some spectacular birthday cakes, especially when it comes to important birthdays but our Papa is not a demanding fellow. He’s the kind of guy who just does away in the background, making do with what he’s given. So for his 40th birthday, the one is which Granny opened our door to the gigantic Lorimer family, put on a fantastic spread of finger foods, provided a dizzying amount of alcohol…Papa got a cake…a shop-bought Angel Cake. Gasp! Between all the madness of organising his 40th Birthday Party, Granny hadn’t had a chance to bake Papa a cake so he got his favourite little cake, bought from Safeways, with a candle on top.
Did he complain? Not once – he was perfectly happy with his little layer Angel Cake.
Did he share?
Well, no, he didn’t do that either but it was his birthday after all!
The easiest way to make the layers of Angel Cake would be to use 3 individual loaf tins, or a multi-sized cake tin
Granny's Top Tips
• Gel food colouring is the best option for colouring your cake batter. I use Wilton Food Colour Gels
Angel Cake
PRINT RECIPEINGREDIENTS
For the Cake
- 145 g Margarine or Butter at room temperature
- 145 g Caster Sugar
- 3 Free-range Eggs
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 230 g Self-raising Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tbsp Milk
- Pink & Yellow Food Colouring Gel
For the Icing
- 55 g Margarine or Butter at room temperature
- 110 g Icing Sugar
- Splash of Milk
INSTRUCTIONS
For the Cake
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°c (160°c for fan assisted oven or Gas Mark 4) and line your tray bake tin
with greaseproof paper (instructions above). Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter/margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until combined before adding the next. Stir in the vanilla.
- Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until you have a smooth batter. Add the milk and mix until combined.
- Evenly separate the batter into 3 bowls. Leave one as is and add a small amount of yellow and pink food colouring gel to the others, adding until you have your desired hue.
- Spread the batter into your prepared cake tin and bake in your pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes, until risen and golden.
- Allow to cool slightly in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Icing
- Mix the butter/margarine, icing sugar and milk in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
- Trim the edges of the cake and and the top of the yellow and pink layers
- Spread half the buttercream icing on the top of the yellow layer, before sandwiching the pink layer on top. Repeat on the pink layer and sandwich the plain layer on top.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won't always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amy Reid
Amy is the voice-behind and creator-of Baking with Granny. The daughter of a professional baker, Amy grew up in the house which was filled with cakes & bakes. Once her own two children came along (and her mother became “Granny”), it was suddenly obvious that many of their family recipes would be lost in time, if not written down now. And Baking with Granny was born! Amy now takes Granny’s recipes from years gone by and transforms them from bakery quantities, to easy home baking recipes that people around the world can make and enjoy.
22 responses
Love the recipes Amy and Granny, saving them all as they come in
Such a pretty cake with beautiful layers
Baked this for my family and friends and it went down a treat! Thank you for this excellent recipe: so simple to bake but also so impressive-looking and tasty! (This cake served approximately 8 people)
Can I freeze this cake? Sounds lovely going to make a huge one for a charity so need to do it a week early because too busy near the day
Freezing it is ia billiantbway to make it beforehand x
My daughter loves this and so I would like to make a 3 layered round birthday cake. Can you suggest how I would change the recipe to make this
Thanks
Hi did you figure out how to make this round? I’m wanting to make it for my daughters birthday.
Did you make the birthday cake. My daughter wants one. :)
While not an expert baker and lacking the skills and experience my sadly departed grandmother used to exhibit in such matters, I hope I may perhaps be able to provide insight into resolving your dilemma.
If you use the recipe as written, and instead of using loaf tins, a multi-sized cake tin or a tray bake tin, use a round cake tin for each of the three layers, your cake layers will each cook in a lovely round shape.
I apologise for the extraordinary complexity of this proposed approach but I trust that with experimentation and perhaps some fine tuning you’ll achieve success in baking a round cake.
I know it’s a silly question to ask but do you put all three colours together or is it just one at a time. Sorry if I come across a bit dim
How did you fold the paper to divide the pan into three sections without overlap?
Could I to make a swist on this flavour the pink and yellow layers strawberry and lemon?
Hi Amy, did you do this in the end? Just wondering the same thing myself…
What size of loaf tin is used
What size eggs do you use. Medium or large?
Lovely cake Baked with my grandson who insisted we make it in three 8 inch round tine. It turned out really well. He iced top with pink icing but other wise kept to recipe. It tasted wonderful.
Did you change the amounts to use the round tins?
Sounds lovely. I’m looking at making it for my brother in law he loves angel cake. If you have the loaf tins would you make each mixture 3 times in the 3 different colours or would you still devied the one between the loaf Tin 3 times
Hi ,do you use unsalted butter in this recipe?
I was so pleased to find this recipe. It was very easy to follow. I did a bit of a Heath Robinson with the cake tin, using foil and baking parchment. That worked well. I was surpsied that the amount of batter was so little but it has made 3 reasonable sized layers! Haven’t tasted yet but will be using both the buttercream icing and a little fresh cream too.
If i made again, I’d get the Wilson gel as recommended and also, remember to use white sugar instead of golden. My colours all look drab, even though they were fairly bright before cooking. I’m very much a novice at this but I did enjoy this bake! Thank you
Made this at the weekend and it was perfect. Everyone loved it. Thank you xx
Need to make a two tier sheet cake for 30 people would I double or triple the ingredients ?