Lovely Smells: Bake (+ Easy Cake recipe)

Sure-fire way to make your husband/wife/children love you more, and visitors think you are a stellar housewife - have something baking when they walk in the door!

If you have a breadmaker, then this is the easiest way to make this happen.  Even the lovely yeasty smell as it rises wafts about a bit.

Bake a cake.

Yes a bit more time and effort, but have a crack at Froogs instant sponge cake, and you'll see that it can be quicker than you think.  Certainly as quick as heading up to the supermarket to buy a packet mix and then coming home and cooking it.

It looks a lot like Mt Fuji, this one

For this one, which is a direct knock-off of Froogs one, (and excuse the state of the cake, I will not be baking anything that looks remotely polished until I get a new oven. Mine has two temperatures. cremating and off) I used...

250g Eggs (4x large ones, 5x the ones my chooks lay)
250g Self raising flour
250g sugar
250g butter/marg

If you want chocolate add 30g (2x heaped tbsp) cocoa
If you want vanilla add a few drops of vanilla extract

Mix ingredients together.  I use my mixer (my hand-held blender isn't strong enough for the batter)
Divide between two cake tins (greased/floured, or lined with greaseproof, whichever floats your boat)
Bake - Froogs says 30 mins, mine took about 25 in the Cremator - its ready when you stab it in the heart and your implement of stabbiness comes out clean)
Cool (as in let the temperature drop, although, though it could mean AWESOME you just baked a cake, or you've been watching the Fonz on Happy Days too much, you choose.)

Now for my favourite bit...

Ice it with nutella in the middle, and sprinkle icing sugar on top.

That's it.

No annoying icing to mess up the kitchen further.  Hurrah.

We had no icing sugar the first time I cooked this one, so I just stuck it together with nutella. Worked perfectly though you could still see the burnty bits.