A delicious and simple vanilla school cake with icing and sprinkles – the classic easy bake for everyone!
School cake
YES THAT IS RIGHT… THE RECIPE IS FINALLY HERE! School cake!! This, again is one of the most highly requested recipes to go on to my blog, and I thought it was about time… just in time for school starting again this year!
This cake is iconic – and one of the cakes that no matter how ‘plain’ it is – I will ALWAYS want to eat it. There is just something about it. It’s sweet, but delightful. If you haven’t heard of it… you must try school cake now!
Sponge
School cake, for those who don’t know… is a really very simple recipe. It’s a vanilla sponge cake, topped with water icing and sprinkles! It really is that simple. If you include the water as an ingredient for the icing, it is eight ingredients.
The cake is light and moist (if I can use that word…) with the vanilla flavour. You simply have to make a basic cake sponge! Theres something about the vanilla sponge and sprinkles together that tastes DELICIOUS however, if you wanted a chocolate version – follow this recipe here!
Eggs
I have listed 7-8 eggs, as eggs can vary in weight. The best tip, is to weigh your eggs in the shells, to get as close to 400g as possible. Say the eggs weigh 411g, you then need to use 411g butter, sugar and self raising flour!
The equal ratios create the perfect simple sponge that will bake wonderfully and it’s very hard to get wrong! The vanilla extract is optional, but I LOVE it!
Method
To get the perfect bake, you really need to make sure you mix the ingredients properly. I use my stand mixer, but an electric hand mixer works, or even a bowl and spoon. Make sure if you use unsalted block butter that it’s at room temp, but baking spread can be fridge cold.
You beat the butter and sugar together until creamed, light and fluffy. I then add in all the eggs, self raising flour and vanilla and mix again! If mixing with a bowl and spoon, you may want to add these a smidge slower so you don’t get in a complete mess!
Traybake tin and baking
I use a 9×13″ traybake tin to make this school cake, as I use it for all my traybake cakes. I love my chocolate traybake cake, my gin and tonic traybake cake and so on… but this one?! This school cake may be my favourite of all my traybake cakes.
If you aren’t sure on your oven, I always recommend using an oven thermometer so it bakes correctly! An oven I once had to use was 50ºc out! Absolutely awful for baking. After your oven is correctly heated, you want to bake the cake until a skewer comes out clean, and its not making a bubbling/crackling sound when you listen carefully.
If you cake sinks after coming out the oven, it needed longer baking. It really is that simple! It’s still going to be edible, so don’t be disheartened. Baking is all about learning the science behind it!
Decoration
Once the school cake is cooled, you can make the icing. It really is as simple as mixing water into the icing sugar, pouring it over the cake evenly, and sprinkling on some sprinkles! It’s as simple as it can get. I use these sprinkles as they are beautiful, bright and fun! They are 1000% bake stable and UK legal!
The most painful part is waiting for the icing to set a bit so it doesn’t pour everywhere – but it is worth it! This school cake is one of the best bakes ever, and I really hope you love it! Enjoy! x
School Cake!
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Ingredients
Cake
- 400 g unsalted butter
- 400 g caster sugar
- 7-8 medium eggs
- 400 g self raising flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Icing
- 500 g icing sugar
- 4-5 tbsp water
Sprinkles
- Rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
For the Cake
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Preheat your oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan and line a 9×13″ traybake tin with parchment paper.
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Beat together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
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Add in the eggs, self raising flour, and vanilla extract and beat again until combined well.
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Pour into the tin and bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until baked through.
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Once baked, let the cake cool fully in the tin.
For the Icing
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Add the icing sugar to a medium sized bowl, and gradually add the water, mixing well each time, until a thick icing paste is made.
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Carefully spread the icing over the cake evenly.
Sprinkles
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Sprinkle over your favourite rainbow sprinkles!
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Leave the icing to set for about an hour, and enjoy.
Notes
- I recommend using a 9×13″ traybake tin for this recipe.
- This cake will last for 3-4 days once made.
- For a 9″ square tin – I would recommend a 5 egg/250g sugar/butter/flour mixture. Baked for 35 minutes!
- You can use any sprinkles you like, but I use these sprinkles!
ENJOY!
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J x
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