Recreate the iconic school dinner cake at home with this simple recipe

Remember those really tasty and sugary puddings dished up during school dinners? You know, the one’s you’d get before Jamie Oliver had stuck his nose in?

Well, there’s a new recipe that will enable you to recreate the iconic vanilla sponge cake from the comfort of your own kitchen.

Rekindling those childhood memories, Instagram baker @cakeontherun recently shared her recipe for a vanilla traybake, complete with icing and sprinkles on top.

@cakeontherun / Instagram

The recipe for Laura’s vanilla cake tray bake uses no eggs, so a vegan version can easily be made using dairy-free milk. So, what are the rest of the ingredients? 

All you’ll need is 400g self raising flour (or all purpose flour with 1 tsp extra baking powder, or gluten free flour), 250g caster sugar,  200g margarine, 200g vanilla or plain yoghurt, 200ml milk, 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract, 1 tbsp baking powder, a splash of lemon juice, 400g powdered icing sugar, a splash of cold water and sprinkles for the icing.

The method is straight forward, too: Firstly, you’ll need to pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F/ gas mark 4 before creaming the margarine and sugar together in a large bowl. Then, you’ll need to sift in the flour and add all of the other ingredients.

Mix together until combined – though be careful not to over mix! Once this has been done, line a baking dish with parchment paper and bake for thirty minutes (or when the top is golden and the sponge is cooked in the middle.)

@cakeontherun / Instagram

Then, remove the cake from the tin and paper and leave to cool on a wire rack. You can then make the icing sugar by slowly adding water to the powder in a deep bowl. When it’s runny and the cake is cooled, pour over the top and then scatter sprinkles. Then, you can cut into chunks and serve with custard to live out your primary school dream.

Other fun twists you can try is coconut (using coconut milk and desiccated coconut instead of dairy and sprinkles), almond (with almond milk and almond slices) and lemon.

Make sure to follow Laura’s Instagram page for more baking inspiration.