Close your eyes for a second and come with me on a journey. The year is 1999 and you’re dressed in your best birthday suit, a garment specially stitched at the tailor’s a week prior. Strings of balloons, of all sizes and all shapes, drape the living area walls in a marvelous display. Flash photography ensues, followed by the gambol of merry children, as Sameeu’s infamous happy birthday song plays festively in the background. Your mother hands you a knife, made complete with shiny ribbon, and an aroma fills the room: sweet, buttery and delicious.
FOR THE CAKE:
200g butter
200g sugar
200g eggs
1 tbsp vanilla essence
200g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
100ml milk
FOR THE FROSTING:
150g butter
350g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp milk
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven at 160'C.
Prepare two 7-inch cake pans by covering them with parchment paper and greasing the sides lightly.
In a medium sized bowl, sift and combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda together.
In a separate larger bowl, whisk the butter and sugar at high speed until pale yellow and creamy.
Slowly beat in the eggs one at a time, along with the vanilla essence.
Begin to fold in your dry ingredients alternating with the milk, about three rounds of this process.
Once the mixture is folded in and there are no more lumps, pour your batter into the pans and stick them in the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes. Remember, timings may vary depending on your oven, so always keep an eye out to make sure they don’t burn.
In the meantime, whisk some butter at high speed until pale and fluffy.
Sift in the icing sugar a few tablespoons at a time, mixing until fully combined. If you don’t like your buttercream too sweet, you don’t need to use all of the icing sugar. Feel free to adjust the recipe accordingly.
Add in vanilla and milk.
Whip up until nice and stiff.
Once your cakes are out of the oven and has cooled to room temperature, place one of them on a cake board or flat plate.
Spread the prepared frosting evenly in the center.
Top with the other cake layer, and spread the remaining frosting all over the cake.
Decorate the cake in any way that you’d like.
Enjoy with a generous serving of nostalgia, and steaming hot tea.