First Birthday Cake

[Momma]

I want to try my hand at making a birthday cake for my son's first birthday.  It is just for his grandparents and us so nothing fancy needed and its not like he will be bothered one way or another.  But I'm venturing into new territory here.  Is there such a thing as a fail proof recipe or should I just go store bought? 

[Why not?]

If it's just family and your child's too young to notice anyway, just go for it and have fun. The net is a great source for easy recipes. My tip: buy a hand mixer!

[cake eater]

I quite often use this Victoria sandwich cake recipe:

2 eggs
100g/4 oz butter or margarine
100g/4 oz castor sugar
100g/4 oz self-raising flour


And that's it - that's for two 6 inch sandwich tins. 

If you want to use 7 inch tins you simply up the amounts so you'd use - 3 eggs and 175g/6oz of the other ingredients, and so on depending on the size of the tins.

You can also add a drop of vanilla essence for a more vanilla flavoured cake or you could replace 1 oz of flour with 1 oz of cocoa powder for a chocolate cake (that's for the 6 inch tin size, again, you'd have to change it if you used bigger tins).

If you've never done much baking, my tip for the tins is to grease them with margarine and then cut out a circle for the base of both tins from that silicone cooking paper you can buy and that will stop them sticking to the bottom.

For fillings, jam and whipped cream is a nice filling, or you could make buttercream.

I'm not a particularly good baker but this recipe works out fine for me.

[cake eater]

sorry, I realised I forgot to give you cooking times.  oven 180 degrees or equivalent and cook for about 20 mins.  A skewer or knife poked into one of the cakes should come out clean when they're ready.

[just remember]

The only important thing to remember when baking cakes is don't keep opening and closing the door to check on the cake otherwise it won't rise properly - try to be patient.  Other than that I agree victoria sponge cake should be fairly easy and yummy

[SAE]

When my daughter turned one I bought the most gorgeous ice cream cake that looked like a pink and white rocking horse - it was so beautiful that I didnt want anyone to have any - all my daughter ate was a small bowl of smarties.  By the time my second child was one, we got him a simple vanilla sponge cake, put it on a table that was high enough for him and a couple of other little ones to reach and let them go mad sticking their hands in and eating it!  It was so cute and a lot of fun for everyone involved.  My advice to you then is to keep it simple and let your son enjoy the cake, it is his birthday afterall.   

I never ever bake cakes but then thats cause I cant bake so I would go for the store bought one.  It all depends on whats easier for you on the day. 
Happy first birthday for your son, its such a cute age.  Enjoy!