The 2-4-6-8 Cake - your go-to, lazy-girl recipe with 100s of variations

If there's one thing engrained in my brain from my childhood, it's certainly not pythagoras' theorem. It's my mother's 2-4-6-8 cake recipe. It's one of those recipes you don't need to constantly reference (unless you can't remember 4 numbers...), you can create 100s of variations from and your friends won't stop raving about because it just tastes so wholesome. Best of all, you'll probably always have the ingredients.

I should've eased into it with a plain vanilla version, but alas, my son's 8th birthday was close, so you've got pics of an *extra* version of the 2-4-6-8 to start you off.

FIRST, the base recipe. Then the fun starts.

Make sure you have kitchen scales, and you won't have to reference this again.

Ingredients

2 eggs

4 ounces butter

6 ounces sugar

8 ounces self-raising flour

1 tsp vanilla extract, if you want it

Method

Extra-lazy version: microwave the butter, hand mix with the sugar, wait 'til it's cool THEN add the eggs (otherwise you'll have bits of cooked egg through your cake). Add in the vanilla, fold in the flour. Add a splash of milk if it looks a little too stiff and not cake-battery. Oven time. (Use water if you don't have actual milk - weirdly oat milk etc makes it crumbly)

Less-lazy version: Beat butter with the sugar, then beat in eggs, add the vanilla, fold in the flour. Add a splash of milk if it looks a little too stiff and not cake-battery. Oven time. (Use water if you don't have actual milk - weirdly oat milk etc makes it crumbly)

Oven times: (Varies on your oven) 25-30 mins in a 175 Celsius oven - check with a skewer at the 25 min mark - if it's clean, you've got a super oven - TAKE IT OUT. If not, leave it in for a bit longer. I like to use a 19cm cake tin so it sits a little taller - if you have a wider one, reduce the cooking time a little. Y'know - more surface area and all that math.

Basic icing: Icing sugar, bit o' butter, water. Mix. Ice. When the cake's cool, unless you like drippy icing.

BUT WAIT. This is where it gets interesting.

Hot tip #1: halve the sugar, I bet you won't even notice.

My Mum's signature move. Technically the recipe should be 2-4-3-8 cake, but you probably won't remember that. 

Hot tip #2: start experimenting with flavours.

Want a blueberry vanilla cake? Microwave some frozen blueberries and mix them into the batter.

Want interesting icing? Try a plain cake, but make a basic butter + icing sugar + water icing, and mix in some lemon juice and zest. Or orange. Or lime.

Want a chocolate cake? Substitute some of the 8oz of flour for cocoa, and add cocoa to your basic icing.

Want a vanilla Oreo cake for your son's 8th birthday? Crush Oreos and mix them into the batter, eat the rest of the packet, then thank your husband for buying an extra packet, 'cos he knows you well enough that you eat the ingredients while you bake. Crush more Oreos and mix them into the icing.

Want a marble cake? Separate the batter into 3, keep one vanilla, dye one pink and make a chocolate one with cocoa - loosely 'plop' bits into a cake tin and you've got a tri-coloured cake that really impresses young children.

Want to make a mini cake for a friend? Make a bunch of mini cakes in a cake tin (batter makes roughly 3) - gift one to a friend and keep the other 2.

Think you've got the hang of it? You could try doubling the recipe, cooking 2 cakes, then popping a mix of vanilla ice-cream with chopped Cherry Ripes in the middle. Then making a chocolate icing with chopped Cherry Ripes. Tall, impressive, and so cakin' easy.

Once you've had this recipe, you'll realise what homemade cake should really taste like. My mother always has a 2-4-6-8 cake in the freezer, ready for guests. I suggest you do the same. But stuff the guests.

Yours in lazy recipes,

Clare

More pics of the same old cake, different forms and flavours: