Vanilla Sponge Cake with Strawberry Glaze

18.07.20

Sprinkles & Sparkles

Shiza Zia

COVID’19 has swept over the world, putting 100s of countries in lock down, leaving people to spend time with family, pick up a new skill, or just spend hours on end pondering and re evaluating certain life choices. Be it minimalism, mindset, spiritualism, or even veganism, each of us have at least 2 topics we find ourselves constantly thinking about. The one thing that lock down has most definitely taught us is to make the most of things while they last, and to appreciate the simple things.

Celebrating my birthday in lock down was an experience I’d never thought I would have. I had always imagined my 18th birthday to be a big one; a huge party with my family and friends to celebrate my coming of age. However, this year seemed to have a different plan for me. Instead of celebrating at a fancy venue, with a huge guest list, I celebrated at home, with my family. Instead of having a humongous custom made cake, I baked myself a birthday cake.

I decided to keep things very simple for my birthday cake; plain vanilla sponge cake with strawberry glaze. While there are dozens of cake flavors all over the web, vanilla cake is pretty much the building block of at least half of them. While this cake can be enjoyed on its own, it can also be paired up with an array of other flavors (due to its immense versatility), such as chocolate, cinnamon, and mint, just to name a few. I paired my cake with strawberries, because why not? Strawberry season was coming to an end, and my family freezes fresh strawberries to use later in the year. I made the most of these freshly frozen strawberries, and whipped up a strawberry glaze to go over the vanilla cake.

Despite the simplicity of the celebration, I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it taught me that not everything in life has to a) go according to how you plan it and b) be lavish, because at the end of the day, it is the simple pleasures that really make life worth living. We often overlook these simple things, even though they can be more meaningful and memorable than all the banquets in the world.

Without any further rambling, here's the recipe for my vanilla cake; a staple recipe that everyone should have on them at ALL times.

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Ingredients

Vanilla cake

1. 2 cups sugar

2. 3 cups all purpose flour

3. 3 tsp baking powder

4. Pinch of salt

5. 4 large eggs

6. 1 cup softened butter

7. 2 tsp vanilla extract

8. 1 cup milk

Strawberry glaze

1. 1 cup strawberries

2. Pinch of salt

3. 1 tsp vanilla extract

4. 1 cup butter

5. 3 tbs cream

6. 1 cup icing sugar

Instructions

Vanilla cake

1. Pre heat oven to 350F/175C.

2. Prepare two 7-inch cake tins by lining them with parchment paper or by greasing them.

3. In a small bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Using an electric beater, beat together eggs and sugar. Add in butter,milk and vanilla and beat until creamy.

5. Add dry ingredients to wet in three equal increments, and gently fold.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins, and bake for 40 mins, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the centre.

7. Remove cakes from the oven and let cool completely.

Strawberry glaze

1. Defrost the strawberries, add cream and beat together.

2. Add butter, salt and vanilla. Continue beating.

3. Gradually add icing sugar and continue beating.*

*NOTE: You may or may not want to use all the icing sugar written in this recipe, depending on the consistency that you require. If you opt to make frosting, then just increase the amount of icing sugar you put in.

*This recipe makes a LOT of glaze. Simply half the recipe if you want less. OR, keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week; can be used to make dessert.

Assembling the cake

To assemble, put one cake on the cake dish, followed by a drizzle of strawberry glaze. Put the second cake, and pour the glaze over it.

Keep the cake refrigerated.

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