How to make a homemade Jiko vanilla cake this festive season
By Cynthia Lodite, December 26, 2025No oven? No problem, this festive season, you can still enjoy a soft, fluffy vanilla cake made right at home using a jiko.
Perfect for holiday gatherings or a sweet family treat, this simple method brings out delicious results with basic ingredients and a little creativity.
Whether you’re in the city or upcountry, here’s how to bake a homemade vanilla cake on a jiko and impress your loved ones with a truly heartwarming dessert.
Ingredients
2 cups of flour
1 small cup of sugar
250 grams margarine
4 eggs
1/2 litre of milk
The baking process
Light your jiko with enough charcoal to serve you in the entire cooking process.
Grease your sufuria with a little oil all round; this way, the cake will not stick to the sufuria once it’s done.
Once you put your cake mix in a sufuria, you will need to divide your charcoal in the jiko into a second jiko.
You will put half of the coal in the jiko and the other half on a lid that you will use to cover your sufuria with the cake mix.
Now, the charcoal needs to be red enough, but very little on both sides. If you put a lot of charcoal, the cake will get burnt and will not fully cook in the middle.
Once you have covered your cake, you will need to check your coal every so often to ensure that it’s still producing heat; if not, you will have to fan the coal until it is red and producing heat.
You will continue to check on your cake to ensure that it bakes properly. To know that it is fully baked, you take a knife and insert it into the cake, and if it comes out clean, the cake is ready.
Once the cake is ready, let it cool and serve. Depending on your preference, you can ice the cake, make custard, or eat it plain as it is.
Remember, icing is optional.