Basic Vanilla Cake for Valentine's Day

I like the idea of Valentine's Day. I like reminding the people I love, how much I love them. And I usually like to do that with food. This simple vanilla cake, is not only easy to make, but melt in your mouth good as well. It's perfect for decorating as it is denser than box cake, but just as easy to make!

This cake is so versatile yet easy to make. It's dense enough to fill, layer and stack yet not dry.

Also, I use this as a base recipe when I'm experimenting with different ideas, like this orange cake and these marble cupcakes. 

Ingredients:

- 2½ cup Flour

- ¾  cup Oil

- 1¾ cup Sugar 

- 4 Eggs 

- 1 cup Milk

- 2½ tsp. Baking Powder

- 1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Preparation (Aprrox. 10 mins):

Preheat the oven to 180°C. (350° F) Grease a cake pan or cupcake pan.

Mix the sugar and eggs, and beat until well incorporated and the mixture is light.

In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. 

Mix in the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, add in the vanilla, oil and milk, and mix only until well incorporated.

Pour into your pan, and put into the oven for 40-45 mins, checking after 35 mins with a toothpick.

Decorations: 

Decorations in the pictures are done using marshmallow fondant, icing, colored sugar and the cake is covered in a powdered sugar glaze.  

To make a glaze, add 1 Tsp of water to 1 cup of powdered sugar, and a drop of food coloring needed. Add water as needed but using a teaspoon for accuracy.  You can also make the glaze lemon flavored by adding lemon juice instead of the water and lemon zest as well. 

The fondant is store bought and i used cookie cutters to cut out the shapes.

The glitter sugar is made by putting one drop of food coloring in a plastic bag with half a cup of sugar and mixing it well, then letting it dry for a few hours. 

Play around with different ideas and experiment with this simple recipe!