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Vanilla Birthday Cake with Strawberry Jam & Vanilla Buttercream

A four layer, classic vanilla birthday cake, filled with strawberry jam and covered with vanilla buttercream.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 7 inch cake
Author: Vicki | Passionate Baker

Ingredients

for the cake:

  • 50 g salted butter
  • 3 large eggs
  • 225 g granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp milk
  • 180 g plain flour
  • 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder

for the filling:

  • 1 cup strawberry jam

for the vanilla buttercream

  • 170 g salted butter, softened
  • 240 g icing sugar, sifted
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

to finish:

  • chopped strawberries, optional

Instructions

for the cake:

  • Heat the oven to 180°C. Butter & flour two 7-inch cake tins; set aside. Melt the butter; set aside to cool.
  • In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to beat together the eggs, sugar & vanilla until very light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes.
  • Heat the milk until lukewarm (about 20-seconds in the microwave), & slowly whisk into the egg mixture. Whisk in the cooled melted butter.
  • In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour & the baking powder. Add all at once to the cake batter & stir until smooth.
  • Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared tins & bake in the preheated for 30/35-minutes, until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean. Leave the cakes cool for 10-minutes in their tins, before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

for the buttercream:

  • Using an electric whisk or stand mixer, beat the butter until creamy, about 1-minute. Add the icing sugar to the butter a little at a time, until fully incorporated. Add the milk & vanilla extract, increase the speed slightly, and beat until light & fluffy, about 3-minutes.

to assemble:

  • Use a sharp knife to divide each of the cake layer in two, giving you 4 layers.
  • Put one layer on your serving platter & spread with 1/4 cup of vanilla buttercream. Using a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle, pipe a quick “dam” of buttercream around the edges of the cake. Spread 1/3 cup of strawberry jam over the vanilla layer, within the edges of the “dam”.
  • Repeat this process until you’ve used up all of your layers.
  • Spread a very thin layer of frosting all over the cake & place into the fridge for 15-minutes.
  • Spread a the remaining frosting all over the cake, using an offset spatula to smooth it over.
  • Top the cake with strawberry halves or flowers etc.

Notes

  • I used homemade strawberry jam to fill this cake. 
  • I always always use homemade vanilla extract in all of my bakes & strongly recommend you do the same!
  • this cake is on the sweeter side of things, and I suspect the culprit is the homemade jam. For a less sweet cake, use store bought jam in the filling. Either way – it’s still delicious!