One cake I loved when I was little was the three tier Angel cake, all pink, yellow and white with buttercream in between. I used to go to Sainsburys and buy the whole cake on a regular basis and usually end up eating the majority of it myself! My dad would sneak a slice but it was simply too addictive. When watching the Bake off the other week, one of the challenges was to make the traditional angel cake, and although a lovely cake in its own right, it got me thinking about the angel cake I used to love and how long it’s been since I had it. So with the challenge in mind I decided I would bake the angel cake myself.

Funnily enough when looking for a recipe online I had a lot of trouble finding one and this spurred me on more to want to make the cake and then share it with others. I found one recipe online but I have slightly tailored it.

Ingredients:

• 225g butter at room temperature (a good quality one)
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 large free range eggs
• 225g plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp whole milk
• 1tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees, Gas Mark 4 and lightly grease 3 loaf tins.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding the vanilla with the final egg. Fold in the flour and baking powder.

3. Now add the milk and whisk into the mix.4. Divide the mixture into three bowls.

5. In one bowl add the pink food colouring until you get the desired depth. (I only added a few drops and felt the colour wasn’t strong enough- I would therefore recommend 2 teaspoons of food colouring) Add 2 teaspoons of yellow food colouring to the second bowl.

6. Divide the mixtures into the tins and bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes. Check with a skewer to make sure its cooked perfectly.

I liked how it looks like there’s an angel in the centre of the pink cake!!7. Once the cakes are cool, it’s time to make the buttercream! For this you will need:

50g  Unsalted butter, softened
125g icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Beat together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla until light, pale and fluffy. Spread between the different layers and sandwich together. Then slice the cake and enjoy!!

Despite the messiness in appearance of the buttercream, this cake turned out delicious! The sponge was moist and soft and for such a simple cake it really is just so tasty. I’d like to see more angel layered cake in cafes and market stalls as I still believe it’s always a winner and in true tradition my dad had about a quarter and I pretty much had the rest!