School Cake

This cake doesn’t just taste good, it unlocks memories. The smell, the texture, the thick icing, even the sprinkles, it all takes you straight back. If you’re over 30, there’s a very good chance you already know exactly what this is before you’ve even read the title.

School Cake

School cake is one of those recipes that lives somewhere between food and memory. It’s not fancy. It doesn’t pretend to be clever. And yet, the moment you see it, you’re transported. Plastic trays. Long tables. The sound of cutlery. That thick slab of vanilla sponge topped with glossy icing and finished with a scatter of bright sprinkles.

And if you were really lucky, it came with pink custard.

This is proper retro school cake. The one served in canteens across the UK for decades. Soft sponge, sweet icing, unapologetically simple, and strangely comforting in a way few modern bakes manage to replicate.

When I first shared this recipe back in 2020, I didn’t expect much beyond a bit of nostalgia. Instead, it struck a chord. Hard. It ended up starting a whole wave of old-school dinner recipes, with people recreating the meals they grew up eating, not because they were glamorous, but because they were familiar and comforting.

That reaction told me everything I needed to know.

Why school cake hits so hard

This cake works because it’s tied to a time, not a trend.

For a lot of people, school dinners were one of the few constants growing up. The food wasn’t always exciting, but it was reliable. And desserts like this cake were the highlight. It didn’t matter what kind of day you were having, if school cake was on the menu, things felt a bit better.

That emotional connection is powerful. It’s also why this cake doesn’t need updating or “elevating”. It’s perfect exactly as it is.

Soft vanilla sponge, not too light, not too dense. A thick layer of icing that sets just enough to hold its shape but still gives when you bite into it. And sprinkles, because of course there are sprinkles. They don’t add flavour, but they add joy, and that matters.

The pink custard effect

Mention school cake to anyone of a certain age and the next words are almost always “pink custard”.

It was never subtle. It was thick, sweet, and aggressively pink. And it was brilliant.

This recipe doesn’t include custard because everyone remembers it differently, some had chocolate, some had vanilla, some swear the pink one tasted of strawberries even though it absolutely didn’t. But serving this cake with custard, pink or otherwise, is very much encouraged.

It completes the experience.

Why this recipe works every time

This is a classic sponge, built on equal weights of butter, sugar, and flour. That ratio is there for a reason. It gives you a reliable crumb, good rise, and a texture that stays soft even after a day or two.

The milk loosens the batter slightly, making the sponge tender rather than dry. Vanilla gives warmth without overpowering anything. There’s no need for citrus, spices, or extras. This cake is about restraint.

The icing is equally straightforward. Icing sugar, milk, vanilla. Mixed until smooth and poured while the cake is completely cool so it sets cleanly on top rather than soaking in.

Turning the cake upside down before icing might seem like a small detail, but it’s exactly the sort of thing school kitchens did. Flat top, neat finish, easy slicing. It’s those little details that make this feel authentic rather than inspired-by.

Why this cake sparked a trend

When I first posted this recipe in 2020, the response surprised me. People weren’t just saving it, they were sharing stories. Comments filled up with memories, favourite school dinners, arguments about custard colours, and photos of people baking it with their kids.

It became clear very quickly that this wasn’t just about cake. It was about comfort. Familiarity. Recreating something safe during a time when everything felt uncertain.

That post ended up opening the door to a whole run of old-school dinner recipes, and in many ways, it marked a turning point in the kind of food people wanted to see. Less perfection, more connection.

This cake isn’t trying to impress

And that’s exactly why it does.

It’s not stacked. It’s not drizzled. It’s not piped within an inch of its life. It’s a square cake with icing and sprinkles, cut into neat portions, just like it always was.

Serve it with custard. Serve it on its own. Eat it warm. Eat it cold. It doesn’t care. It just wants to be eaten.

Ingredients

For the sponge

180 g caster sugar
180 g softened butter
180 g self-raising flour
3 medium eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
40 ml whole milk

For the icing

400 g icing sugar
50 ml whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Multi-coloured sprinkles

How to make School Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180℃. Line a 20 cm square baking tin with baking paper.

2. Add the caster sugar and softened butter to a large bowl. Whisk until pale, creamy, and well combined.

3. Add the eggs, self-raising flour, and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth.

4. Pour in the milk and mix again until you have a smooth batter.

5. Spoon the batter into the lined tin and smooth it out into the corners.

6. Bake for 18–20 minutes until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

7. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Flip it upside down to give a flat top.

8. Once completely cool, make the icing by whisking together the icing sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth.

9. Pour the icing over the cake and spread it evenly.

10. Scatter over the sprinkles and leave to set before slicing into portions.

FAQs

Can I make this ahead of time?
Yes. This cake keeps well for 2–3 days in an airtight container.

Can I freeze it?
Freeze the sponge without icing. Ice once defrosted.

Why turn the cake upside down?
It gives a flat surface for icing, just like the original school versions.

Can I make this bigger?
Yes, double the recipe and use a larger tin for a proper traybake.

Does it need custard?
Need? No. Want? Absolutely.

This cake isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about remembering where you came from. And the fact that it kicked off a whole old-school dinners movement back in 2020 just proves one thing, nostalgia, done properly, never goes out of style.