Simple Cakes: Mary Berry (E)

Product Information

To make the filling and topping, measure the butter, honey, almond extract and icing sugar into a bowl and mix well until thoroughly blended. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease two 20cm/8in sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper. Measure the flour, spices, butter, sugar, eggs, almonds, treacle and lemon and orange zests into a large bowl. Beat well, then fold in the soaked fruits.

Pile the remaining icing from the bowl on top and spread it with a palette knife over the top and around the edges to completely cover the cake. Make sure that the icing is smooth around the edges before starting to create lines up the sides. Make wide lines up the sides and swirl the top. To fill. Melt butter in a medium pot and add all ingredients except egg white and demerara sugar. Remove from heat and add rum. Wait 3–4 hours or overnight before using the filling. Make the filling a few days ahead. Before filling Eccles cakes, let the refrigerated filling rest for 30 minutes.

Cutting down your meat intake or going full veggie? Look no further than the chapter dedicated to vegetable-based mains, which includes hero dishes like Roasted Vegetable Wellington and Wild Mushroom Pasta Bake. Mix the buttermilk, oil, vanilla, food colouring and 100ml/3½fl oz water in a jug. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined. The mixture should be bright red; it will get a little darker as it cooks. If it’s not as vivid as you’d like, add a touch more colouring. Get your kids to measure out all the ingredients and add them to a mixing bowl or freesttanding mixer.

Measure all the ingredients for the cake into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well blended and smooth. Put all the cake ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Divide between the two tins, and level out evenly. Measure the baking spread, caster and light muscovado sugars, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, milk, 3 tablespoons of the caramel and the salt into a large bowl. Whisk together for 2 minutes using an electric hand whisk. To make the buttercream icing, place the soft butter and vanilla extract in a large bowl and sift in half the icing sugar. Mix with an electric whisk until smooth. Sift in the remaining icing sugar and mix again. Add the mascarpone to the bowl and gently stir with a spatula (don’t beat with a whisk as it may split). Put a fluted nozzle in a piping bag and spoon about 150g/5½oz of the buttercream into the bag. Baking spread, (things like Stork), is just a non dairy margarine that’s perfect for baking. It makes cupcakes and cakes lighter and fluffier than butter, which means it’s a great, cheaper alternative. How long do these fairy cakes keep?Gently flatten the cakes with the sealed edges on the bottom and the smooth surface on top. Don’t press too hard. Cut three parallel dough incisions with a sharp knife. Measure the baking spread, caster sugar, flour, eggs, baking powder, lemon curd and half the lemon and lime zest into a mixing bowl. Beat together using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Tip the mixture into the tin and level the top with a spatula. Put large spoonfuls of both cake mixtures in the tin, then swirl the two together with a skewer to create a marbled effect.

Measure the cream cheese and flour into another bowl and beat with an electric hand-held whisk until smooth. Add the vanilla, eggs, sugar and double cream, whisk again until well blended, then pour the mixture over the crumb base. Don’t forget to put the pastry in the fridge before you bake it so that it keeps its shape and texture. Measure the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into a bowl and mix well. These simple fairy cakes will keep in an airtight container for a few days. If you want to make them in advance or keep them a little bit longer, you can freeze them before you’ve added the icing. Simply wrap them well or pop them in a freezer bag and they’ll keep in the freezer for a few months. Defrost them fully before adding the icing. Can I ammend the quantities?

If you can, put some sprinkles in a small bowl before you add them to the icing. It’ll remove the temptation for your kids just to tip them out of the tub straight on to the fairy cakes which can get a bit messy! What can I use instead of self raising flour?