Prue’s take on this old school traybake is sure to fill you with nostalgia. Making your own sprinkles is great fun and means you can choose any colours and shapes you like. This is a great bake to make with children and if you’re after a faff free option, buy in the sprinkles and custard – we won’t tell anyone.
Serves:
16
Difficulty:
Easy
Baking Time:
50 mins
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- Ingredients
- Method
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Method
Step 1
For the sponge, preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas 4. Grease and line a 23cm x 30cm traybake tin with butter and non-stick baking paper.
Step 2
Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon (or electric mixer) until pale and fluffy.
Step 3
Add the eggs one a time, beating well between each addition until fully incorporated and taking care not to curdle the mixture.
Step 4
Fold in the flour, then stir in the vanilla extract and mix to a smooth batter. Do not overmix. Scrape the batter into the tin and level with a palette knife.
Step 5
Bake for 45 – 50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the sponge is coming away from the sides of the tin.
Step 6
Remove from the oven and leave the oven door open. Leave the sponge to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Step 7
For the sprinkles, whisk the egg white in a bowl until fluffy then whisk in the icing sugar to a stiff dropping/piping consistency.
Step 8
Divide the icing between 5 bowls and colour each bowl a different colour, until you have one pink, one yellow, one blue, one green and one red.
Step 9
Line 2 baking sheets with non-stick baking paper, then make 5 piping bags out of baking paper.
Step 10
Working with one colour of icing at a time, spoon the icing into a piping bag and snip the end to a small point. Pipe around 15 straight lines of icing on the baking sheet, then leave to dry. Repeat with the remaining 4 colours of icing until you have multiple lines of coloured icing covering the baking sheets.
Step 11
Place the baking sheets in the oven with the door open and leave to set in the residual heat of the oven. Be careful the oven isn’t too hot when you put the baking sheets in, as you want the icing to set, not brown.
Step 12
Once the icing is dry, use a sharp knife or craft knife to cut into sprinkles.
Step 13
For the icing, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl, add 3 tablespoons of water and mix with a balloon whisk, adding more water, one teaspoon at a time until you reach a thick coating consistency.
Step 14
Spoon the icing over the cooled sponge and level with a palette knife, then sprinkle over the coloured sprinkles.
Step 15
For the custard, warm the milk in a pan until just starting to bubble around the edge, then remove from the heat. Place the egg yolks, cornflour, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and whisk together until combined. Pour over the hot milk, whisking continuously, then return the mixture to the pan and cook over a medium heat, whisking continuously until the custard thickens.
Step 16
Cut the cake into 16 pieces, then serve with the custard.
