I think when it comes to cake simple is definitely underrated. As it was D’s birthday this I obviously made him a cake. Not one to usually do cake making by halves I also made cupcakes to have at his birthday party. Simple vanilla cake is a big favourite with D (and his friends) so I thought I’d use the opportunity to sing the praises of the most versatile cake mix in my repertoire. The techniques for making this are exactly the same for the cupcakes and the full cake, just scaled up for the cupcakes.

To make the full cake you will need

170g self raising flour

170g butter

170g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling

Good quality jam

To decorate

160g soft butter

320g icing sugar

1 tbsp milk (or as we ran out of milk, i used apple juice)

Sugar strands

Candles!

For 12-14 cupcakes you will need

225g self raising flour

225g butter

225g caster sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To decorate

140g butter, softened

280g icing sugar

1 teaspoons milk

Food colouring (I used blue for a Dr Who theme)

Silver balls/other cake decorations

To make your sponge mix preheat your oven to 180°C. Sift the caster sugar into a large bowl, crack in your eggs and add your vanilla essence. Whisk this mix until thick and foamy. Sift in your flour. Melt your butter and gradually whisk this into the mixture until smooth.

Depending upon whether you’re making a cake or several cupcakes either split your cake mix between two larger cake tins lined with baking paper, or between several cupcake cases in a muffin tin. Bake for around 15 minutes or until the cake is golden.

To decorate the cake sandwich together the 2 cakes with the jam.

Whisk together the butter, milk and icing sugar together to make buttercream. If you whisk the buttercream enough it goes a lovely pale colour. I always like to add the buttercream to cakes in excess and then smooth the whole thing over taking buttercream off as I go until its in a smooth even layer.

To finish off add sprinkles and candles.

Serve with an enthusiastic round of “Happy birthday to you”

To decorate the cupcakes just do the same thing but add food colouring to the buttercream (I have just discovered gel colouring and I am a fan, although my nails are now pretty blue). Decorate the cupcakes with a swirl using a flat knife, if like we you’re in a hurry and have no time to pipe. I topped my cakes with silver balls and some Dr Who decorations (we might be 27 now but we’re both big fans).

The only thing left to do under the circumstances is to eat the cake.