Angel Cake

Growing up with Granny baking at home, people are always shocked to find out that as kids, my sisters and I 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 about 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 lifelong 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 is to use three individual loaf tins or a multi-sized cake tin. If, like me, you only have one loaf tin, you can improvise by making your own multi-sized 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’s 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.

Angel Cake

5 from 6 votes

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Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

INGREDIENTS

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

Metric (UK) | Cups (US)

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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