So I've started baking cakes. I use a recipe for butter cake from a cooking book by Margaret Fulton; something along the lines of 1/4 cup butter with 3/4 castor sugar and vanilla essence creamed then add two eggs and beat then fold in 1 cup flour then 1/2 cup milk then another cup flour. Bake at around 160 celcius for 30 minutes.
What I've done successfully to change the taste, is to replace some of the flour with almond meal, and/or add some orange rind and juice- the extra liquid means a bit more flour or equivalent. Also food colouring is fun, plus you can use any type of essence like almond or peppermint - it doesn't have to be vanilla. This is a good cake to cook 'cause its really fast and really tasty and there's all sorts of different offspring from the mother recipe above.
What I've done successfully to change the taste, is to replace some of the flour with almond meal, and/or add some orange rind and juice- the extra liquid means a bit more flour or equivalent. Also food colouring is fun, plus you can use any type of essence like almond or peppermint - it doesn't have to be vanilla. This is a good cake to cook 'cause its really fast and really tasty and there's all sorts of different offspring from the mother recipe above.