Recently alot of you have been commenting on my tutorials asking for the recipe that I use for my vanilla sponge cakes. This is probably the recipe I use the most and actually features in most of my videos. I love this recipe as it’ i’s great for simple round cakes, but it’s also great for carving into 3D cakes or using smaller quantities for cupcakes too.
If you’ve seen my vanilla cupcake recipe it’s actually very similar but the recipe below will make 2x 6 inch round cakes which when divided up gives you 4 layers each 1 inch in height. You can then alter the recipe slightly if you are making smaller or larger cakes. You can find my cake conversion chart here.
Once baked you get this nice fluffy sponge cake which is full of flavour, and I think totally yummy!!. Plus if you fancy something other than vanilla cake you can substitute this for another flavour of your choice. Some of my favourites are adding orange flavouring and combining this with a chocolate buttercream, or a lemon cake with lemon buttercream.
Video Tutorial
Watch how to make my Vanilla sponge cake below or scroll down for the recipe.
I really hope you like this recipe and finding helpful in your own baking.
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Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients the Cake
- 12 oz Self Raising Flour (340g)
- 12 oz Room Temperature Butter or Baking Spread (340g)
- 12 oz Caster Sugar (340g)
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp Vanilla Essence / Flavouring
For the Buttercream
- 18 oz Icing Sugar (500g)
- 9 oz Block of Salted Butter (250g)
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Essence / Flavouring
- 2.5 tbsp Milk
Instructions
For the Cake
- Place all of the ingredients for your cake together in your mixing bowl.
- Mix these together until the ingredients are fully combined. This usually takes around 30 seconds.
- Divide your mixture between 2x 6 inch cake tins. I like to cover the inside of my tins in a thin layer of butter and dust with flour, before adding a circle of parchment to the bottom to stop the mixture from sticking.
- You then want to bake your cakes for around 45 minutes on the middle shelf at 180 degrees celcius. For my oven I use a normal oven setting. I don’t actually use my fan oven when baking cakes as it tends to bake the cakes quicker on the outside so you get this hard crusty shell and the mixture is not baked all the way through.
- After 45 minutes you can take a cocktail stick or bamboo skewer and push this into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean you know your cake is baked all the way through. You can then place your tins of a wire rack to let cool for a few minutes before turning them out, and allowing to fully cool.
For the Buttercream
- Whilst the cake is cooling you will need to sift your icing sugar into your mixing bowl. To this add the butter, flavouring and milk.
- Then mix your buttercream on a medium speed. After around 5 minutes your buttercream will start to go creamy. You can then add any gel colouring depending on the theme of your cake.
Filling and stacking your cake
- Once your cake has cooled you can level off the top and divide each layer into 2. Placing your buttercream between your layers, stack your cake.
- You then want to add a thin crumb coat of buttercream around the edge of your cake to lock in any loose crumbs. Place your cake into the fridge for around 30 minutes to allow the buttercream to firm up.
- You can then go in with the rest of your buttercream adding a nice finish around the side of your cakes. This is then ready for any final decorations. Get all my tips and tricks for covering your cakes in buttercream here!
60 Responses
Hi, can I just ask you, do you use medium or large eggs? Thanks
Hi Natalie, The eggs that I used were medium eggs. Lynz
Hi I am writting do you have this recipe in cups measurements?
Hi Liza, Unfortunately I only have it in grams and ounces. I’m so sorry.
Hi lynz
Love your videos can I ask how long you mix your ingredients for in your mixer
Hi can someone please answer my question that I posted on the 10 June thank you
Would love to try this cake but unsure of the timings ???
Hi Kim, Thank you for your message. When I am making my cakes I mix the ingredients until they are all combined and then stop, so usually no more than around 30 – 45 seconds depending on your mixer and the speed. I really hope this helps. Lynz
Thank you so much for getting back to me
And if you don’t mind how would I convert this recipe into 2 x 8” cakes plz
I’d also love to know the conversion in 8″ cake tins. Thanks
Not sure if this helps you,but I needed 8″ recipe so I did 18oz of everything and 6 eggs and this I decided into 2 8″x 3″ round pans it gives you cake right to top of pan thus getting 4 1″ slices ,if your batter is to thick you can add a little milk or butter milk I’ve made it with and without not much difference to end result hope this info helps and I hope Lyndsey you don’t mind me commenting on your lovely recipe x
Sarah Jane this is fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing x x
Thank you so much for putting up your comment very grateful going to go give it a try xx
I made this cake today with the buttercream and my family say it’s The Best I’ve ever made and I bake daily!!
ThanKyou Lynz..it’s Perfect x
Thats amazing. I am so glad your family liked it x
Hi. Would you use this recipe for a dome cake? Or would you change anything? Making my first one and I’m a little worried!
Thank you x
Hi Emma, I use this recipe how it is for dome cakes, I just change the quantities depending on the size of the dome tin.
Hi there, when you say ‘normal oven’ what do you mean? Just the bottom element or top and bottom elements? Can’t wait to try this recipe!!
Hi Megan, I meant just a conventional oven without any fan or steam elements if these might be something your oven has. I have a fan oven but I can switch the settings to a conventional oven so it doesn’t allow the fan to work. I hope this helps and makes it a little clearer.
Hi my oven is a fan oven which I’m unable to turn off what temperature can I bake it at x
This is what I’ve done
But both top heat and bottom heat on
Might try with just one on if this Burns
Can Margarine be used as substitute for Butter
Hi Adeyemi, Yes in the sponge cake it works fine as a substitute. I find Stork or something similar which is specifically for baking works best as some margarines can make the mixture a little runny. Also it’s fine for sponge cakes, but if you were making buttercream to go on your cake you would need to use real butter. I hope this helps.
Hi I followed recipe as you said and mine have not risen like yours . My batter was also very thick ! When split into the two tins there was hardly any batter .. what am I doing wrong
Hi ! I have the same thing as you when i tried this recipe.. i added some milk until i felt the batter was not too thick.. it works good on mine ! And if you’re using the all-purpose flour rather than self raising flour.. you need to add around 2 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt.. to make the cake risen. Good luck!
hi, do you have a link for the cake tins you used please? 🙂 x
Could you please tell me how long you would cook in a fan assisted oven. I baking your cake as we speak and it seems to be browning very quickly
I’m just worrying if it’s gonna burn
I’ve turned off my fan in the oven hoping to get it the same but somehow I think it’s going to burn help
Hi Rae, In my experience fan ovens tend to cook the outside of cakes alot quicker than the inside which is why it looks like it might burn. If you can turn the fan option off then that is what I always do, but if not just reduce the heat and cook it for longer. How did you get on?
Hey Lynz,
Thank you so much for this recipe, I can’t wait to give it a go! All your cakes look wonderful and so perfect.
We have a new build with what u believe to be just a fan oven, have you got any advice if we don’t have a convection oven, as I know this us the preference, sounds crazy but I didn’t know they were since ovens where you could turn it off.
Thank you so much
Sian
Hi Sian, I am so glad you like the recipe and want to give it a go, this definitely is my go to cake recipe. With a fan oven I find it tends to bake the outside of the cake alot quicker than the inside, so I would suggest reducing the temperature and baking it for a little longer. All ovens are different so when it looks like its baked just check it with a skewer through the middle to check it comes out clean and the inside is baked all the way through. I hope this helps and I really hope you enjoy the cake.
I tried this recipe and it is lovely!! I wanted to ask can you put all the batter in one tin as opposed to 2? If so would you have to change the temperature or the cooking time?
Hi Bina, I am so glad you like the recipe, this is probably the recipe I use most often. You could definitely bake it in one tin, but I would reduce the temperature slightly and cook it for longer.
Hi
Could you please tell me if i can use all purpose flour as a substitute of self raising flour.
Hi Aleena,
Yes you can use all purpose flour but you will need to add baking powder to the plain flour as it doesn’t have the raising agent. You need to add 2 tsp’s of baking powder to each 150g/6oz of plain flour.
Hi Lynsey,
Do you pre heat your oven! If so, how long for?
Kind regards
Hi Allie, Yes I always pre-heat my oven until it has reached the temperature I need. If you’re oven doesn’t tell you when it has reached temperature you could use an oven thermometer to check before putting in your cakes.
Hi Linsey,
I’m going to give this recipe a go for my son’s birthday… What’s the height of the 6′ cake tin used please?
Thanks,
Luana
Hi Luana, The tins I use for my 6 inch cakes are 2.5 inches in height.
Hey
I need some help my partner needs dairy free butter cream can you recommend a good one for me please
Thank you x
In the recipe said 12oz/340gr/3 cups of flour but 12oz is not 3 cups, 12oz is 1 1/2 cup can you explain please
Hi Carmen, In the UK we don’t use cups to measure out our recipes. I used a conversion calculator, so I am so sorry if this was wrong. Thank you for correcting me.
Brilliant recipe. Just what I need to do a Liverpool FC cake for my husbands 40th birthday.
How long do you leave to cook on rack before putting in fridge please?
Any quick tips for a red drip to go on top?
Many thanks.x
Hi Sonia, I am so glad you like the recipe. I always leave the cake to completely cool on the rack before I wrap it in cling film and pop it into the fridge until I’m ready to put the cake together. In terms of creating red, I always use the sugarflair extra red as you don’t need as much red to create a vibrant colour.
Hi, is this batter suffiicent for the 4 layer pink shades cake you made? Or should I count all ingredients x2?
Thank you
Hi Sofia, Yes this is the exact same recipe I used. I just split the recipe into 4 tins instead of 2, so each layer was a little thinner.
Hi, is this batter suffiicent for the 4 layer pink shades cake you made? Or should I count all ingredients x2?
Thank you
Hi Sofia, Yes this is the exact same recipe I used. I just split the recipe into 4 tins instead of 2, so each layer was a little thinner.
Hi really want to try this recipe but I wanted to use 3 x 6 inch tins rather than 2.
Do I have to amend the recipe and if so, what is the quantity? Thank you!! X
Hi Lynz, I wanted to make this but wanted to use 3 6inch tins rather than 2
What would the quantities be for this?
Thank you!! X
Hi Tina, If you would like the cake to be the same height as mine you can use exactly the same recipe, but just divide it by your 3 tins rather than 2 like I did in the video. If you wanted it to be a taller cake so it ended up as a 6 layer cake instead of 4 if you make half the recipe again, so 1.5 of my original recipe and split that between the 3 tins. I really hope that makes sense.
Is the temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit?
Hi, It’s in Celsius
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
I’m so glad your family loved the recipe. I hope your friends like it too.
Hiya,
I followed this recipe to the letter and watched the video etc but my cakes were overdone outside but raw on the inside. Not sure where on what I’ve done wrong. Can you give me any tips on where I’m going wrong?
Thanks.
Leigh-Ann
Hi Leigh-Ann, I’m sorry to hear the cake didn’t work out. From the sounds of it I am wondering if you are possibly using a fan oven setting rather than a normal oven setting. When baking cakes in a fan oven they can bake the outside a lot quicker than the inside, so the cake looks done and forms a crusty shell on the outside, but the cake remains raw on the inside. If this is the case do you have a normal oven setting without the fan option? This will help your cake bake more evenly. If not if you deduce the temperature, the cake will need longer to bake but this will stop the outside baking as quickly. I really hope this helps.
Hi Lynz, hope you well. Thank you for the vanilla cake recipe. I’ve tried to make it 3 times and everytime my cakes rises and sinks in the oven, please help me figure out where I am going wrong.
I am prehating the oven for at least 30 minutes before putting the cakes in, I have bought a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients properly as I thought perhaps thats where I was getting the measurements wrong but still the same result. Please give me any advise you have to help me! I so badly want to nail this recipe. Thank you xxx
Hi Simone, Sorry to hear that your cakes are sinking. There are a few things that could be causing this. Firstly are you using self raising flour? If you are and it is still happening the cakes may just need a few more minutes in the oven, different ovens can be a little different, so some may need slightly more or slightly less time. Have you checked the center of the cake with a cocktail stick to check it is completely baked in the center. Sometimes if the center is a little under baked this can cause the cakes to sink when they are removed from the oven.
Hi
I made this cake using gluten free self raising flour, adding ½tsp xanthan gum and 1tsp baking powder. It turned out perfect. Not dry or crumbly like some recipes.
Thank you Lynsey
Hi Sue, That’s amazing to know that it turned out really well with gluten free self raising flour. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with how it went and also details on what you used. I will definitely have to give that a go. Thank you