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Baking is an ultimate stress reliever.

When you can see ‘the cake you bake’ turns out to be perfectly soft and fluffy, made with your own hands.

Moreover, who wouldn’t love to have freshly baked cake with a cup of tea watching the rain outside? That’s what I did today. Let me pen it down quickly for you; it’s a very easy recipe, very simple and extremely indulgent.

I prefer baking cakes with eggs. Though I do make eggless cakes also at times, only when there is a situation where I have to bake them for vegan people. Cakes baked with egg have a very unique flavour compared to ones baked without egg.

PROCEDURE FOR CAKE

Firstly, we have to bring the butter to room temperature. Do not melt it using heat; just let it soften on its own. Next, use extremely fine powdered sugar for baking cake. When the sugar is fine, it becomes very pale and fluffy while beating. That in turn helps you achieve a softer and tastier cake. Mix in the egg one at a time. Now for butter & sugar, beat it in high mode. Once you start adding egg, slow it down and then increase gradually. This ensures that the yolk and whites blend well. Let us also add some vanilla extract.

Then, in a separate big bowl, sift together all dry ingredients, like all-purpose flour (maida) and baking soda. If you are using unsalted butter, then add a pinch or two of salt. Add a little milk so that the batter is not thick. The looser the batter, the softer the cake will be. Finally, add chopped chocolate chunks of your choice. Make sure you mix it well with the batter. Else, if sprinkled on top, it may burn.

Grease a baking tray or line with parchment paper. I used a 7-inch baking tray over here. Preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Then the cake should be baked somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes at 200 degrees in the middle section of the oven. Let it cool completely before frosting with butter cream. Even if the top of the cake feels cool, it should still not be warm from inside. Else your frosting will drip out.

PROCEDURE FOR BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Again, it is extremely crucial that you soften the butter at room temperature. If you melt it by heating, trust me, it will surely disappoint you in some or another way sooner. Then in a big bowl add 1 part of softened butter to 2 parts of finely powdered and sifted sugar. Add some vanilla extract and beat at high speed till it looks pale and fluffy. You can add 2 tbsp of milk very gradually, one spoon at a time. Let it not be runny or loose at all. It has to be stiff. Add any food colour of your choice if you want to.

NOTE:

If you want to add heavy cream to buttercream, just add one tbsp to the abovementioned proportion. Heavy cream is thicker and should not weigh down your butter cream. Confectioners use this trick to increase the volume of cake; however, note that the taste may definitely be different.

Depending upon your convection oven, the outcome of a baked cake or cupcake may differ.

This is my version of cake. A slight touch of chewiness should be felt while eating. The sponginess is 100% guaranteed.

Below I have shared a video where I have used the basic vanilla sponge as a base cake for my daughter’s birthday celebration: –