Swapping mixing desks for mixing bowls, BBC 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne turns Food Editor to bake us a birthday cake

It speaks volumes that the kitchen appliance I’m most familiar with is a microwave. Or maybe the cork screw. At least it was until I took part in a Comic Relief challenge this March, cooking solidly at home for two weeks (my husband was sponsored to endure it and not die). At one point I made a chocolate cake that tasted like a shoe. It genuinely looked like a road accident so I put a sad face of raspberries on top. But with friends like Lisa Faulkner sending me easy recipes to try – quiches, pies, nana cakes – I improved and now I love it. The indie world is quite ‘bakey’. The 6 Music Breakfast Show even held a competition to mark the end of Breaking Bad called ‘Baking Bad’. I successfully made chocolate brownies. Saying that, I’m nervous about icing my Confetti Cake – it’s a precise art. But I always feel better with glitter and heels on so, sprinkles in hand, let’s hope the same applies.

When I interviewed Jamie Oliver recently I used it as a sneaky way to get advice. He said making the same thing on repeat helps you perfect a recipe. Now, after several attempts, I make a cracking banana loaf. Unfortunately The Primrose Bakery Confetti Cake isn’t something I’ve practised so here goes, this could go either way people! Here’s how to do it…

Ingredients

Cake mix (makes one 3-layer 20cm cake)

315g self-raising flour
35g cornflour
1 ½ tsps baking powder
335g golden caster sugar
6 large free range eggs
335g unsalted butter at room temperature
5 tbsps milk
1½ tsps good quality vanilla extract
¾ tsp red food colouring
1 ½ tbsps hundreds and thousands

Pink vanilla buttercream icing:

230g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120ml semi-skimmed milk
2 tsps quality vanilla extract
1kg icing sugar, sifted
food colouring and sprinkles

Method

Recipe: Stylist's 200th issue cake