Vanilla cake with fluffy meringue icing
I had a Twitter exchange last week with a blogger who was very upset over a sneering article that had been written about her on a well-known parenting website. Her crime? Going to too much trouble to make school lunches for her kids. Among the many nasty snipes at her was the suggestion she ‘get a life’ instead of spending so much time and energy making the lunches artistically appealing. (Actually, her blog is charming, creative and entirely aimed at encouraging her kids to eat healthy. Take a look.)
I’m not sure when it became a crime to put some effort into preparing food for people we care about, but the exchange got me thinking about how we often feel uncomfortable, or too embarrassed, to admit we’ve gone to some trouble in the kitchen. We mutter that a meal was really no effort at all, or that a dish was very simple to make when actually we’ve spent an entire (but enjoyable) day or more striving to ensure it’s absolutely delicious. Why do we do this? What’s wrong with feeling proud to have made a culinary effort?
The lunchbox episode was timely because it coincided with the 13th birthday of my daughter. While my cooking mojo is dormant at lunchbox-making hour, I usually put a sizeable effort into my children’s birthday cakes. I’ve wept hot tears over the crumbled ruins of a sponge dinosaur that lost its tail during late night carving. I’ve chopped up Barbies in the early hours to get the sweep of the icing dress just right. I’ve even driven all over London in search of just the right sized toy Noddy to sit in my sponge-confecton car. Silly? Yes. A little bit of showing off involved off? Probably. Was it an expression of how much I love my kids. Absolutely. Arrest me.
Vanilla cake with fluffy meringue icing
This cake isn’t actually difficult at all - certainly nowhere near the work involved in a Noddy car! It is, however, very tasty and gorgeously pretty with its cloud of meringue icing. I’m still kicking myself for not ordering the edible flowers in time to decorate the top - but the shop-bought icing buds went down very well all the same.
For the cake
- 150g unsalted butter
- 260g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 200g self-raising flour
- 25g cornflour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 90g natural yoghurt
For the icing
- 170g icing sugar
- 3 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Set the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly oil 2 x 20cm round cake tins. Beat the butter and sugar together until very pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs a little at a time. Whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt, then stir this in to the butter mixture Add the vanilla, almond extract and yoghurt and stir until just combined. Distribute equally between the cake tins, smooth the tops with a spatula, and bake on the same shelf for about 30 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from the tins and set aside to cool.
2. While the cakes are cooling, make the icing. (I put the cakes in the fridge once they have cooled a bit as this makes them much easier to ice). Place the icing ingredients in a metal bowl - ideally the bowl of a electric stand mixer - and whisk to combine. Set the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and whisk constantly while the mixture gets hot (this will kill any bacteria in the egg whites). You want it to reach a temperature of about 70°C/160°F - this will take about 7 minutes, by which time the mixture will be quite thick and creamy. Remove from the heat and whisk with electric beaters until the mixture is very stiff and glossy and stands up on it own in firm peaks.
3. When the cakes are absolutely cold, spread some of the icing on top of one of the cakes and place the other cake on top. Spread the rest of the icing over the top and sides, making lovely swirls with your palette knife. Decorate with edible flowers, or your favourite adornments.
