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  • One pan

School dinner sprinkle cake

A hand holds a frosted vanilla cake slice topped with colorful sprinkles. More slices and a bowl of sprinkles are on a wooden table.

By Tom · Updated

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  • About 1 hour
  • Easy

Take a trip down memory lane with this classic school dinner cake. The nostalgic traybake you'll remember from school canteens. Soft, fluffy sponge topped with sweet icing and a sprinkle of hundreds and thousands.

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The recipe

School dinner sprinkle cake

Take a trip down memory lane with this classic school dinner cake.

  • 10 min prep
  • 50 min cooking
  • Easy

Times and difficulty are our estimates from the method, not stopwatch figures.

Quantities
Measurements

Ingredients

School cake

Topping

Tick things off as you go — they stay ticked if you close the page.

A dotted underline means the amount has been rounded to something you can measure.

Method

  1. Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 170°C Fan and grease and line a baking tin with parchment paper.

  2. Step 2

    Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in one egg (4 eggs) at a time and beat them in until fully incorporated. Mix through the vanilla extract.

  3. Step 3

    Sift in the flour (200 g) and fold it into the mix in 4 stages.

  4. Step 4

    Place the batter into your baking tin and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.

  5. Step 5

    Mix the icing sugar (250 g) with the water, a little at a time until you have a spreadable, smooth icing that's not too runny. You might not need all of the water.

  6. Step 6

    Pour it over the cake while still in the tin, spread it out evenly and then add lots of sprinkles.

  7. Step 7

    Wait for the icing (250 g) to set before cutting into portions and serving.

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Questions people ask

How long does school dinner sprinkle cake take?

About 1 hour from start to finish, of which 10 min is prep and 50 min is cooking. That figure is worked out from the method rather than timed with a stopwatch, so give yourself a little more the first time.

How much does this make?

The original recipe did not state a yield, so nothing has been invented for it. The scale control on the recipe card multiplies the quantities instead, which is the honest version of the same thing.

Can I see the ingredients in ounces and pints?

Yes. The metric and imperial switch on the recipe card converts every quantity, rounded to amounts you can actually weigh or measure rather than to four decimal places. Your choice is remembered for every recipe on the site.

Is it vegetarian?

Yes, as written. If you are cooking for a strict vegetarian, the one to check is the cheese: several hard cheeses are made with animal rennet.