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Angel Cake

September 18, 2017 By Amy 15 Comments

Angel Cake. The classic layer sponge loaf. Pink, yellow and plain, sandwiched together with buttercream.

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.

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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!

 

A post shared by Baking With Granny (@bakingwithgranny) on Sep 11, 2017 at 6:46am PDT

The easiest way to make the layers of Angel Cake would be to use 3 individual loaf tins, or a multisize cake tin but if like me you only have one loaf tin, you can improvise by making your own multisize cake tin. I used my tray bake tin, with a long sheet of greaseproof paper measured and folded into three 4 inch sections and it worked perfectly well. It’ a tad fiddly getting the paper folded and fitted into the tray but by no means impossible – and cheaper than investing in the tins just for one cake.

Granny’s Top Tips

♥ Gel food colouring is the best option for colouring your cake batter. I use Wilton Food Colour Gels and find them to be great.

Angel Cake. The classic layer sponge loaf. Pink, yellow and plain, sandwiched together with buttercream.

Print Recipe
3 from 1 vote

Angel Cake

Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Author: Baking with Granny

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 145 g Butter at room temperature
  • 145 g Caster Sugar
  • 3 Eggs
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract/Paste
  • 230 g Self-raising Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 2 tbsp Whole Milk
  • Pink & Yellow Food Colouring Gel

For the Icing

  • 55 g 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 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, 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.
Angel Cake. The classic layer sponge loaf. Pink, yellow and plain, sandwiched together with buttercream.

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Filed Under: cake, recipe, scottish Tagged With: angel, layered.british

Comments

  1. Jean sheard says

    September 18, 2017 at 11:00 am

    Love the recipes Amy and Granny, saving them all as they come in

    Reply
  2. Kat (The Baking Explorer) says

    September 19, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    Such a pretty cake with beautiful layers

    Reply
  3. Luke says

    April 7, 2018 at 9:55 pm

    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)

    Reply
  4. Dawn Kilsby says

    May 1, 2018 at 6:11 am

    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

    Reply
    • Sioned says

      August 31, 2018 at 7:18 pm

      Freezing it is ia billiantbway to make it beforehand x

      Reply
  5. Karen says

    May 5, 2018 at 9:42 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Carol Clements says

      August 19, 2020 at 1:21 pm

      Hi did you figure out how to make this round? I’m wanting to make it for my daughters birthday.

      Reply
  6. Jason says

    November 7, 2018 at 6:14 am

    How did you fold the paper to divide the pan into three sections without overlap?

    Reply
  7. Amy says

    December 21, 2018 at 9:48 pm

    Could I to make a swist on this flavour the pink and yellow layers strawberry and lemon?

    Reply
    • Laura Cook says

      October 28, 2019 at 6:42 pm

      Hi Amy, did you do this in the end? Just wondering the same thing myself…

      Reply
  8. Fiona says

    November 13, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    What size of loaf tin is used

    Reply
  9. Jade says

    November 24, 2019 at 11:33 pm

    What size eggs do you use. Medium or large?

    Reply
  10. Hello says

    November 15, 2020 at 7:19 pm

    3 stars
    Why do u not have the recipe in pseudo code?

    Reply
  11. Gloria Fleming says

    February 18, 2021 at 10:26 am

    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.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Angel Cake – Perfect Girl life style fashion says:
    August 23, 2020 at 11:40 am

    […] → Click Here ← […]

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