Simple Party Cake

It's amazing what a flat sheet of vanilla sponge can be turned into - here is my recipe for a simple sponge, the ingredients are the same as for cupcakes only difference is the quantities. It's great for parties, school or sports day bake sales, or if you just fancy something nice for afternoon tea.

This recipe is very easy and I have never had a disaster with it yet.

My daughter is sick and not at school today so I've made this to cheer her up :)

Before you start you will need;

* Large mixing bowl
* Wooden spoon
* Spatula
* 20.5x25.5x5cm tray bake or a cake tin (greased and base lined with greaseproof)
* Wire rack
* Large sieve
* Flat knife

Ingredients;

* 125g unsalted butter
* 125g caster sugar
* 2 eggs, at room temperature
* 150g self raising flour
* 1 tablespoon of milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Icing;

* 250g icing sugar
* 100g unsalted butter
* 1 tablespoon of milk

For decorating;

The choices are endless - hundreds and thousands, coloured sugar, wafer flowers, jellies - today we are using Cadbury's Mini Eggs with marshmallows and jellies.

Method;

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas4
2. Put the butter,sugar, eggs, flour,milk and vanilla into a bowl.
3. Beat everything together with your wooden spoon, or you can use an electric mixer, until everything is smooth. Make sure all the ingredients are combined well together.
4. Scrape the mixture into your prepared tray bake or cake tin and spread evenly into the corners.
5. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 mins, until the top is nice and golden and the cake has started to shrink away from the sides.
6. Remove from oven, loosen the tin and leave for about 15-20 minutes until cool on your wire tray, then remove completely and leave on the wire tray.
7. Now you can make your icing, sift the icing sugar into the bowl, add your butter and milk and beat until smooth. Once it's  mixed you can colour all or part of it, or it's good enough as it is.
8. Spread your icing over the cooled cake using your flat knife and decorate as you wish, the choices are endless. 
9. You can leave the cake whole or cut it into smaller pieces like I have done today and it will keep for 4/5 days in an airtight container.

Afternoon Tea