Number Cake

This year we are celebrating three years of A Spoonful of Vanilla with this white and gold number cake. Made with a vanilla cake and buttercream, it is topped with Prosecco macarons, Ferrero Rochers, Raffaellos, and some gold leaf.  

This has been such a highly requested recipe and I am so excited to finally share it, what better time than A Spoonful of Vanillas their birthday?

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Cake tin 

For this recipe, I used a cake mould, this one from Amazon. Each number holds a different amount of cake batter, the number three holds approximately 2 litres.  

I much prefer to use a silicone cake tin when making a shaped cake than a metal tin. The obvious difference is that silicone moulds are more flexible, they are easier to get the cake out once it has baked.  

Instead of lining the cake tin with baking parchment, I coated it with butter and left it to one side. You could also use a cake release spray. Either way, just make sure you coat any corners well to stop the cake from sticking and ripping.

Vanilla Cake  

I decided to go with a simple vanilla cake as the base of this cake. I wanted to make this cake all about the decoration, so decided to go with a simple base recipe. If you want to make this cake chocolate flavoured just head down to the alternatives section to find the recipe.  

This is my absolute favourite vanilla recipe, while it has never failed me, I don’t think any recipe can be called fail-safe. Baking is a science and there are so many variables that could be different. For example, different brands of ingredients, overmixing/undermixing, and different oven temperatures and settings.  

This vanilla cake only needs five key ingredients: self-raising flour, unsalted butter or Stork, caster sugar, eggs and of course vanilla. Either unsalted butter or a baking spread like Stork works perfectly in this recipe.

Related Recipes

Vanilla Cake

Vanilla Cupcakes

Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

I always use large eggs when baking. I find the perfect ratio is 1 large egg to every 50g of dry ingredients. For example, in this recipe, I used 300g of self-raising flour, caster sugar and butter. I then used 6 large eggs. So for every 50g of caster sugar, I used 1 large egg.  

Cake batter doesn’t need to be beaten too much. I always start by creaming together the sugar and butter before adding in the remaining ingredients. There isn’t any specific time that you should beat the mixture, but all the ingredients should be fully incorporated and smooth.  

As soon as the mixture is smooth you can stop beating and pour it into your cake tin. Overmixing can cause lots of problems with the cake once it is baked.

Vanilla Buttercream  

I decided to go with a white and gold theme for this cake, so I went with a simple vanilla buttercream. To make the buttercream you MUST use unsalted butter and not a baking spread.  

There are a few different ways to get your buttercream white. The first is to use white food colouring. I recommend this one, just add it little by little until you reach the desired colour.  

Another is to beat the butter and icing sugar together for 5-10 minutes. Unlike the cake batter beating the buttercream for a long period of time, isn’t going to cause it to split or curdle. It will actually, make it smoother and paler in colour.  

One thing you need to make sure of is that the butter is at room temperature before you begin beating it with icing sugar.  

If the butter is too cold it will make it super difficult to beat, you don’t want it to be completely melted, because this will make your buttercream too soft. I recommend leaving it out of the fridge for 1-2 hours before you need to use it.

Decorating the Number Cake  

I split the cake in half to create two layers and piped the buttercream using a large round nozzle. To the top, I decorated it with some white and gold sprinkles, gold Ferrero Rochers, Raffaello’s, macarons and gold leaf.  

The beauty of this cake is that you can decorate it however you fancy. There are so many different options, flavours, and colour schemes the possibilities and endless.

 Alternatives  

This recipe will fit these cake tins perfectly. If you are wanting to make two numbers, then you will need to double the recipe and split it evenly between the two tins.  

If you are wanting to make the cake chocolate remove 50g of self-raising flour and replace it with cocoa powder. You will also need to add 50ml of whole milk.  

Equipment

Cake Mould

Scales

Mixing Bowl

Spatula

Measuring Spoons

Cake Tester

Wire Cooling Rack

Round Piping Tip

Piping Bag

Gold Leaf

*I earn a small amount of money if you buy any of these products. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting A Spoonful of Vanilla.

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If you do have any questions about this Number Cake or any other recipes on my blog you can contact me either by sending me a DM on social media or an email. You can find all my details on the left-hand side of this page.