Kids Can Cook – Basic Vanilla Cake

My twelve year old has made this basic vanilla cake four times in the past three weeks.

Man, it is so good when your kids are old enough to cook something, from scratch, without any help, and clean up after themselves.

This is a really basic cake recipe, and it’s very forgiving. If you don’t weigh the butter quite right or if you crack an egg and half of it ends up on the bench, it won’t ruin the cake, so it’s great for kids to make. It has no fancy or difficult steps so it’s also easy for older kids to make on their own.

It’s my 12 year olds favourite cake to make because she can make it entirely on her own, and she knows it will always turn out great.

The original recipe suggests using a 23cm (9 inch) cake tin but we likes to bake it in a ring pad and make a ‘do-nut cake’. Once it’s iced and covered with sprinkles it does look just like a giant do-nut! It cooks nice and evenly in the ring pan, but there is actually a little too much mixture for the size of the cake tin, so we make a a cake and three muffins.

Basic Vanilla Cake

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

This simple vanilla cake is the perfect cake for kids to bake.

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Ingredients

• 125gms butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of plain flour
• 1 cup of self raising flour (or 1 cup of plain flour and 2 tsp baking powder)
• 1 1/2 teaspon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius and line and grease a 23 cm cake tin (or use a large ring pan and a couple of muffin cases for the extra mixture).
2. In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy - use an electric mixer to make this step easier.
3. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well.
4. Add the flour and milk alternately, mixing well until combined.
5. Pour the mixture into your prepared cake tin - this cake will rise quite a bit so only fill the cake tin 3/4s full!
6. Bake for 40 minutes or unto a skewer inserted comes out clean.
7. When cool, ice the cake with a basic mixture of icing sugar and milk and cover with sprinkles

Zoe made this ‘do-nut cake’ for her Nanny’s birthday. Usually it’s Nanny who bakes and brings cakes and sweets when she visits, so it was extra special to bake something for her instead!

When I let my kids do their own thing in the kitchen the results may not be a perfectly formed or decorated masterpiece, it’s better than that – the results are confident, happy kids who are learning and practicing so many important skills and making something delicious too.

Do your kids like to cook?

What do your kids like to cook?
How do manage the mess that sometimes happen when you let kids cook?
Do you have older kids who can manage things pretty much on their own? What do they like to cook?

Leave me a comment a below and tell me about your kids cooking adventures!

You can find more tips, tricks and simple recipe for kids to cook here.

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