How to make a cake

I would obtain a Mary Berry or Delia Smith recipe book (all available on line) and bake a Victoria Sponge exactly as the recipe states- you may have to have several goes but once you have got it its the basis for so many other cakes.

Yes, follow the recipe meticulously. I used to work with home economists, who had to test cookers that had been reported as faulty. Their test bake was a Victoria sponge and they were obsessive about following the standard recipe totally without deviation every single time.

Practice makes perfect. Get a basic recipe by a good teacher like Delia Smith and follow the instructions to the letter. The best cooks are not necessarily the best teachers - they tend to add a pinch of this and a slosh of that which always turns out delicious - when they do it! As a beginner you need to follow the rules for quantities and temperatures until you know enough to experiment.

You will find that your family will wolf it down even if it a bit rustic-looking.

Devil's all in one has never failed me.

As above. I would also say, get the right cake tins. Apart from the circumference size, straight sided sponge tins with loose bottoms (!) work well.
If you’re making a cake in a loaf tin or a non sandwich cake, you can buy shaped liners which make lifting out easier.

I suggest you start with a basic all-in-one recipe. Always measure the ingredients exactly and you can't go wrong. Mary Berry sometimes uses Stork soft baking margarine so you don't even have to soften the butter. This will give you confidence to try more complicated methods. happy baking!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f67SbvsIfDw

The Be-ro milk chocolate cake recipe is a doddle and you always get good results. There’s a lot of liquid in it so if you are using loose bottomed sandwich tins it’s a good idea to use cake tin liners.

As mentioned by J52 straight sided, loose bottomed cake tins. I also line these with greaseproof paper. Grease the tin and then grease the greaseproof paper.

I also do the same for a loaf tin. Once I was baking using one of those circular tins with a hole in the middle. It was fluted so as to make a pattern on the finished cake. Hmmm.... that was a joy to do with the greaseproof paper.

coolgran cake release spray is very good for awkward shaped tins such as the one you mention. I use it on a sponge flan mould and the cake comes out without a problem.

I'd agree about Delia.
I'd dd that I find the Hummingbird books fantastic. Their basic cupcakes are wonderful.
For a seriously impressive, incredibly easy cake, this is my latest favourite: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/09/anna-jones-chocolate-cake-recipes
and if you are careful about sourcing the chocolate for the icing (and it is actually really nice without the icing anyway) you can serve it to vegans!

I recently tried making some fairy cakes by melting the butter/Stork ,instead of creaming with sugar, adding some baking powder and just mixing the whole lot up. Reason being, was planning to let very little Gdcs make some on their next visit - much easier for them.
They rose better than my usual traditionally made ones!

What sort of cake are you planning on, I would suggest a basic sponge, 6oz butter(I use flora), 6oz caster sugar, beat until pale, then beat some more, beat in 3 eggs then fold in 6oz sr flour. This makes 24 fairy cakes or one 6inch sponge. One piece of advice I learnt at college, never add milk to a sponge if it’s to dry, always use cool boiled water, that thins the batter with out adding more fat.

I learned to bake at school and if I am careful about my method, I can produce a passable cake. The average German housewife, however, can turn out the most amazing creations at the flick of their wrist, so I don't bake many cakes myself in the face of such competition (I usually stick to shortbread, flapjacks, or mince pies at Christmas)

However, having said that, I recently learned something from a video on a cookery website. For a plain sponge cake you should beat the eggs and sugar really well, but don't overdo the beating once the flour has been added - in German it's called a Rührkuchen (a stirred cake) and you literally just stir in the flour with a wooden spoon with two or three stirs, until the flour is properly distributed.

I also separate the eggs and beat the yolks and the whites separately, stirring in the well-whisked whites right at the end - after the flour. This adds more air to make for a fluffier finish.

What is going wrong with your cakes? Are they just not pretty, or are they uneven, too solid, too soggy, too dry, wrong colour, not cooked right through - overdone on the outside and still gooey in the middle? Are they not rising? Do they not taste nice? Do they have a horrid fizziness that feels awful on your teeth? Are you sure your oven is really the temperature you set it to? Does the oven door shut tightly? Are you opening the door during baking?

The bland taste you describe can be improved by adding orange or lemon zest and/or juice. Ground almonds give a nice taste, too, or you could sieve some cinnamon or other spices with the flour. Or dissolve some instant coffee in a teaspoon of hot water and add that.

Practice, care, and following the instructions, as everyone else has said. And don't try to run before you can walk!

Weigh the eggs in their shells, weigh out equivalent amounts of butter, sugar and SR flour, add a tiny pinch of salt, cream butter and sugar, beat eggs and add a little at a time, use a bit of flour if it starts to curdle, fold in flour with a metal spoon and bake in two tins.
Sandwich together with raspberry jam (preferably home-made).

For an easy fruit cake:
Melt 1 cup of butter, one cup of sugar, dried fruit and one cup of milk or tea in a pan, allow to cool, beat in two eggs then fold in two cups of SR flour.
You can add alcohol, nuts, mixed spice or use dark sugar, whatever you wish
Bake at about 150C for about 1.5 - 2 hours.

Although I should confess that I haven't made a cake for quite a long time

We have a glut of courgettes at the moment, so perhaps I should make a courgette and lime cake

I used to do all that creaming the butter and sugar, but now I just put 6 oz each of Stork, sugar and SR flour plus 3 eggs inbto the food processor and whizz it. It turns out exactly the same. Adding a couple of tablespoons of cocoa makes it a chocoloate cake.

Proportions of 2 oz of each of the other ingredients to each egg means you can make a small amount to use up one egg, if that is what you have lurking in the fridge.

I use 6oz fat,sugar ,flour + baking powder(tsp), flavouring and 3 large eggs, beat for 2 minutes in food mixer, bake for 25-30 minutes Gas mark 3 without opening door. Used this for thirty five years and it has never failed.
Always put the cake mixture into pre-heated oven immediately it is mixed; if you leave it standing the air (evaporates?), leaves the mixture and it goes flat.
Tip from Miss Parsons, cookery teacher 1958.

If you can read you can bake, GD downloads cake recipes from the internet, we get the ingredients and just follow the instructions. Her last one, at our house, was a three tier pinata cake beautifully iced.
My only advice would be to use a mixer for large quantities as the wrist aches doing it by hand.

Oven heat and baking time are important too. Ovens vary - you might have to experiment.
I think all baking involves trial and error. (Especially bread.)

I can't believe you are a still using oz and lbs! Do none of you weigh in grams? I used to use imperial measures of course but times have moved on and metric has been taught in schools for over 40 years.

I follow a very simple recipe my Gran used and it gives a lovely light sponge cake. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 Take three large free range eggs and weigh them in their shells. Make a note of the weight then weigh the same amount in self raising flour, caster sugar and margarine. Add all ingredients into a bowl together and beat until smooth and blended. Turn into two cake tins that have been greased and lined and bake until a cocktail stick can be pushed into the cake and come out clean. I usually use 2 x 18cm/7in cake tins Leave to cool in tins then turn out on to a cooling tray. Sandwich together with the filling of your choice and enjoy!

Personally I find using a cake mix works well! especially Betty Crocker..

I use a mix of both pollyperkins, but for some reason my cakes don’t come out so well in grams !. I was taught metric and imperial at school, being there when it was switching over, so I suppose I’m bilingual

Another Mary Berry fan here her all in one method cakes have never failed my mum swore by these recipes and I've used them for many years. My dd in her early 20s uses the same recipes and turns out yummy cakes everytime. Really fresh ingredients help with baking xx