Cake Recipe Suitable for a Shaped Birthday Cake

Our answer

A basic Victoria sponge cake should cut into a basic shape fairly readily as long as it has been allowed to cool completely. If you do have the time it helps to freeze the cake and shape it when frozen if carving smaller or more tricky designs. To reduce the risk of crumbling we suggest that you cut the cake using a small serrated knife (such as a fruit knife) and also use a short upand-down sawing action when cutting. You may find it helpful to put a paper template on the cake and use this as a guide to cut around - you can secure the template in place with a couple of cocktail sticks (toothpicks).

The American cake you are referring to is called a sheet cake. It is a single layer cake and gets its name from the "sheet pan" it is cooked in. A sheet pan is a standard-sized baking sheet with a lip which is 1 inch (2 1/2 cm) deep. A full sheet pan is 26 x 18 inches so is mainly used in a commercial environment but half (18 x 13 inches) or quarter sheet (9 x 13 inches) pans may be used at home. Most American cake recipes add extra liquid to the ingredients, in the form of milk, buttermilk or sour cream, which strengthens the gluten in the flour and tends to produce a cake with a denser crumb which can be easier to cut. If you wanted to try making something similar in the UK then we suggest that you use the Buttermilk Birthday Cake on p210 of Domestic Goddess. This cake is baked in a 23cm (9-inch) square tin so should be large enough to shape,but you will need to make two to make a cake with a decent depth. Sandwich the cake together with buttercream before cutting into shape and we suggest you use the small serrated knife to cut this type of cake too.