April 30, 2021

I LOVE going to the bakery and immersing myself with lovely aromas that fill the air. I especially enjoy looking at the cakes because they are usually SO beautifully decorated and yummy to eat, of course.

If you like to bake, here's a universal cake recipe that I like to use. You can also level up your cake baking game - be sure to check out the table below for ideas on how you can make your cake even more interesting or better suit your needs.

ROVENA'S UNIVERSAL VANILLA CAKE RECIPE

Materials:

3/4 cup Butter, soft at room temperature
1 1/4 cup Sugar
3 Whole Eggs, beaten
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1/4 tsp Salt
3 tsp Baking Powder
2 1/2 cup Cake Flour

1 large Baking Pan (any shape, approx. 12 inch)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F or 177°C.
In a large bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat well until texture is light and fluffy.
Then add beaten eggs and vanilla essence. Mix well.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
Gently fold in flour, bit by bit. Alternate with adding milk. If batter starts to feel dense, add 1 to 3 more tablespoons of milk as needed.
Grease and flour the baking pan. Pour batter into the baking pan and bake in the oven for 40-45 min. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the centre of the cake and see if it comes out clean.

Change It Up:

If you want to make the cake:	You can:
Cup cakes	Pour batter into a Cupcake Pan Decrease baking time to 20 min
Chocolate	Decrease flour to 1 1/2 cups Add 1 cup of cocoa powder
Coconut	Use coconut milk instead of cow milk Add 1/4 cup desiccated coconut to batter
Zesty	Choose an option: Add 1 tbsp grated orange or lemon peel to batter Add 1 tbsp grated ginger root to batter
Fluffier	Substitute eggs with 6 egg whites and 1 tsp cream of tartar. Whip in a separate bowl until peaks form, then gently fold in the batter.
Colourful	Divide batter into smaller portions in separate bowls Add food colouring to batter in each bowl with a different colour in each bowl Pour batter into baking pan, bit by bit, by alternating among all the different colour batter, resulting in a rainbow marbling effect
Fancy	After baking, Add whipped cream, icing, or Nutella (hazelnut cocoa spread) Then choose any topping below: Add sprinkles or coloured sugar Add nuts, sunflower seeds or poppy seeds Add desiccated coconut Add chocolate chips, nibs or shavings Add mini marshmallows Add berries or cut fruit slices
Healthier	LESS SWEET: Decrease sugar to 3/4 cup LESS FAT: Use margarine instead of butter. Use skim-milk. MORE FIBRE: Decrease flour to 2 cups and add 3/4 cup flat rolled oats, 1 tbsp chia seeds or flax seeds Don't make it Fancy

CHEMISTRY OF BAKING A CAKE

It was super fun designing and screen printing this molecule Baking A Cake Tea Towel. Because baking is chemistry, am I right? This tea towel shows the molecules that represent all the ingredients needed to bake a vanilla cake. The aqua colour is simply gorgeous!

Are you a sweet tooth? Do you like cakes? What's your favourite flavour of cake?

I hope you have a chance to try out the cake recipe I shared above. I'm curious to know how it turns out. Did you use any of the options in the Change It Up Table? Let me know in the comments below.