Baking a cake at home doesn’t always require complicated ingredients or specialized equipment, and with basic ingredients such as flour, sugar, eggs, margarine or butter, baking powder, and milk, you can make a simple cake in an ordinary home oven.
A Kenyan healthy-snacking guide produced with the Ministry of Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) includes a homemade cake recipe and recommends combining flour, eggs, sugar, margarine, baking powder, and milk or water. The recipe also calls for vanilla essence and provides instructions for preparing the batter before baking.
The guide recommends creaming the sugar and margarine until fluffy, beating the eggs separately before adding them to the mixture, and sifting the flour and baking powder before adding them to the batter. It then instructs the baker to transfer the mixture into a greased and floured baking pan before placing it in the oven.
Simple Vanilla Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups wheat flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup margarine or butter
- 6 eggs
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- ½ cup milk or water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- A pinch of salt
Also Read: How to Make Soft and Fluffy Pancakes for Breakfast
How to Make Vanilla Cake
- Prepare the baking pan
Grease the inside of the baking pan with a little margarine or butter, then dust it lightly with flour to help prevent the cake from sticking after baking.
- Cream the sugar and margarine
Place the sugar and margarine in a mixing bowl and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. The Kenyan Ministry of Health and FAO-linked recipe uses this as the first major step in preparing the cake batter.
- Beat the eggs
Break the eggs into a separate bowl and beat them. Add the vanilla essence and mix well before combining the egg mixture with the creamed sugar and margarine.
- Sieve the dry ingredients
Sieve the wheat flour and baking powder together. Add the salt and mix the dry ingredients evenly.
The Kenyan recipe recommends sieving the flour and baking powder before adding them to the wet mixture.
- Combine the ingredients
Add the flour mixture gradually to the egg, sugar and margarine mixture. Add the milk or water little by little, mixing until a smooth, thick but flowing batter forms.
Avoid overmixing once the flour has been incorporated.
- Transfer the batter to the pan
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread it evenly using a spoon or spatula.
- Bake the cake
Place the pan in a preheated oven and bake until the cake is cooked through. The Ministry of Health recipe gives a baking period of about 45 minutes to one hour, depending on the oven and the size of the cake.
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To check whether the cake is ready, insert a clean knife or skewer into the centre. It should come out clean, with no wet batter sticking to it.
- Cool before serving
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool before taking it out of the pan. Once cooled, you can slice it and serve it as is or decorate it with icing.
You can make chocolate cake using the same basic method, adding cocoa or chocolate to the dry ingredients.
How to Bake a Cake Without an Oven
- Use a large, heavy sufuria with a tight-fitting lid.
- Place a small metal stand, rack, or overturned metal bowl at the bottom of the sufuria. The cake tin should sit above the bottom and should not touch it directly.
- Cover the sufuria and preheat it over low to medium heat for about 10 minutes.
- Pour the cake batter into a greased cake tin and place it on the stand inside the sufuria.
- Cover tightly and cook over low heat. Avoid opening the lid often, as this lets heat escape.
- After about 40–50 minutes, insert a clean skewer or knife into the centre. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready.
- Carefully remove the tin and let the cake cool before serving.
Keep the heat low. Very high heat can burn the bottom of the cake while leaving the centre uncooked.
Tips for Baking Cake at Home
1. Measure the ingredients carefully: The balance between flour, liquid, sugar, fat and raising agents affects the final texture of the cake.
2. Sieve the flour: The Kenya-focused Ministry of Health and FAO recipe instructs cooks to sieve the flour and baking powder before adding them to the mixture.
3. Do not open the oven repeatedly: Opening the oven door too often can affect the baking process, particularly while the cake is still rising.
4. Use the skewer test: Insert a clean skewer or knife into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, or with only a few wet crumbs, the cake is generally ready.
5. Allow the cake to cool: Cooling makes it easier to remove the cake from the pan without breaking it.
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