Preheat oven to 180C and spray 2, 8 inch round cake pans with cooking oil and line with baking paper.

Make the Vanilla Cake. In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, cream dairy-free spread and sugar with a handheld electric mixer or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Add in vanilla and almond extract and beat through. Add eggs, one at a time beating well in between each, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula as necessary. Add the egg whites and beat well until light and creamy.

Add in the dry ingredients ½ cup at a time while beating the mixture on low speed. Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the milk, again in small increments until everything has combined, being careful to stop as soon as everything is mixed in to ensure the batter is not overmixed. The batter should be smooth and creamy.

Divide the batter into 4. I like to use my kitchen scales to weight it out to make sure it is exact. Tint the batter with a few drops of food colouring depending on your desired result. Spread batter into prepared cake pans and place in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer when inserted comes out clean and cake springs back when lightly touched.

Let cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pans before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Wash pans, spray with cooking oil and line with baking paper and fill with the remaining batter. Again bake for 25 minutes before allowing to cool completely.

Make the Vanilla Buttercream. Using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment fitted, lightly beat the dairy-free spread so it’s smooth. Add in 3 cups of icing sugar. Beat until creamy. Add in another 3 cups of icing sugar and beat on medium. While mixer is running, add in vanilla and milk, one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. If mixture is still too thin, add more icing sugar ½ cup at a time until frosting is smooth but thick enough to hold its shape.

Assemble the cake. Level the cakes with a bread knife if required. Smooth a little buttercream on a cake stand or serving board and place the first layer down. Top with buttercream to cover the cake, then add the next layer. Again add more buttercream, then a cake layer until all four layers have been sandwiched together. Top with more buttercream and smooth out with a cake knife. For the best frosting results, crumb coat the cake by adding a thin layer of frosting around the sides of the cake and scraping away any excess. You should be able to see the cake through the frosting yet still have smooth, straight sides. Let cake chill in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

Remove cake from fridge and finish frosting with another layer around the sides and the top, before finishing off by piping some swirls around the top and pressing some sprinkles around the bottom and of course a few over the top as well.