It was a few friends’ birthdays and we’ve just finished mock exams at school so I decided to treat everyone by making a cake to celebrate. I had the idea of doing a traybake because it is just so incredibly easy to portion up once it’s baked and it’s also a great way of making a lot of cake at once.

I chose to do a marble cake using the classic combination of vanilla and chocolate. Marble cakes are a really easy way to make a cake that bit more special because they always look so attractive. You take 2 different flavoured (and coloured) cake batters and ‘mix’ them in the baking tin to create this effect:

The technique is very simple and the effect is stunning; simply dollop in the cake batter randomly and then use a table knife to swirl it together and bake. To save on washing up, I use the same electric whisk to make the cake batters, obviously starting with the vanilla mixture.

I cover the traybake with a chocolate glaze. The glaze sets hard and sets really quickly so you have to have everything for decorating ready. Have the chocolate buttons and the chocolate hearts in separate containers where you will glaze the cake. And don’t try and decorate the entirety of the cake in one go, ice the top first and then each side individually.

Here are some other food bloggers’ traybake recipes:

Self Raising Flower’s All-in-One Sponge Traybake

Andrew in the Kitchen’s Ultimate Lemon Drizzle Traybake

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Vanilla Sponge

125g Stork

125g caster sugar

2 eggs

140g self raising flour

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp whole milk

Chocolate Sponge

125g Stork

125g caster sugar

2 eggs

110g self raising flour

50g cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp milk

Chocolate Icing

175g dark chocolate

50g margarine

3 tbsp golden syrup

Decoration

Milk and white chocolate buttons

White chocolate sprinkle hearts, you can find out how to make them by clicking here

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Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 35cm x 25cm x 2cm roasting tin with baking parchment.

Make the 2 sponges by combining all the ingredients in 2 different bowls and using an electric mixer to beat the ingredients for 1 minute until well incorporated, scraping down the sides with a spatula halfway through.

Use a spoon to randomly dollop in the chocolate mixture in the tin, leaving spaces to fill with the vanilla mixture. Then fill in the spaces and top with the vanilla cake mixture. Use a table knife to level out the cake batter and mix through the cake batters so you end up with the marble effect.

Bake for 18 minutes until the sponge is risen and springy to the touch. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before lifting out and moving to a cooling rack to cool completely. Cut off the curved edges of the sponge.

When the cake is cold, make the icing by melting together the chocolate, margarine and syrup either in the microwave on 30 second blasts, stirring in between, or over a pan of simmering water. It will be shiny and thick.

Place the sponge onto a large sheet of baking parchment. Then cover the top of the sponge with a layer of the icing. Decorate the top with chocolate buttons and chocolate hearts, alternating them. For even squares of sponge later on, use a ruler and mark on 48 equal squares.

Then use a palette knife to coat each side, one at a time, and decorate with alternating milk and white chocolate buttons. Allow to set at room temperature, refrigerate for 1 hour before cutting up into squares and serve.