On the hunt for a vanilla cake for keeps :)

Hi all

Can I please ask a bit of a boring question (sorry!!)? I’m trying to get my basic go-to recipes pinned down as I’m trying to start a small business up at the moment and I feel like I really struggle with a reliable vanilla cake. All the cake books I have (Peggy Porschen, Zoe Clark etc) suggest basic sponge recipes for a typical jam/buttercream style cake, but no matter what I try, they just don’t keep well beyond two days I would say (or start to get dry around the base and sides), which means that by the time they are filled, iced and decorated they are already a bit on the dry side :( I usually really try not to overbake, syrup while warm and wrap in two layers of foil quickly to keep the moisture in, but still no luck. I’ve also tried baking in one deep tin and baking as three separate layers in shallow tins and the results are still pretty much the same. I really find that a madeira recipe keeps much better but I know not everyone likes the dense nature of that style of cake. I wondered if any of you would mind sharing what style of vanilla cake you and your customers prefer best i.e. sponge, madeira, buttermilk based, oil based, egg whites only etc for celebration and wedding cakes? I don’t expect fellow cakers to give up their prize recipes, but it would be really good to know if I’m just doing something wrong on the sponge front!

Thank you very much :)

Natasha