Parkin

A traditional sponge cake from Northern England flavoured with syrupy molasses, oatmeal and ginger

• Cooking Time Prep 15 mins
  Cook 1 hr
• Skill Level Easy
• Servings Makes 16 squares

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  248

• Protein

  3g

• Carbs

  33.3g

• Fat

  11.4g

• Saturates

  6.7g

• Fibre

  0.9g

• Sugar

  18.5g

• Salt

  0.5g

Ingredients

• 200g butter, plus extra for greasing
• 1 large egg
• 4 tbsp milk
• 200g golden syrup
• 85g treacle
• 85g light soft brown sugar
• 100g medium oatmeal
• 250g self-raising flour
• 1 tbsp ground ginger

Directions

1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease a deep 22cm/9in square cake tin and line with baking parchment. Beat the egg and milk together with a fork.
2. Gently melt the syrup, treacle, sugar and butter together in a large pan until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat. Mix together the oatmeal, flour and ginger and stir into the syrup mixture, followed by the egg and milk.
3. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 mins-1 hr until the cake feels firm and a little crusty on top. Cool in the tin then wrap in more parchment and foil and keep for 3-5 days before eating if you can-it'll become softer and stickier the longer you leave it, up to 2 weeks.

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Battenberg Cake

Sarah Cook's traditional Battenberg cake is a delicious project for an afternoon in the kitchen

• Cooking Time Prep 2 hrs
  Cook 1 hr
• Skill Level Easy
• Servings Makes 2 cakes, each cuts into 10 slices

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  524

• Protein

  7g

• Carbs

  71g

• Fat

  25g

• Saturates

  10g

• Fibre

  2g

• Sugar

  61g

• Salt

  0.5g

Ingredients

• For almond sponge
• 175g very soft butter
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 140g self-raising flour
• 50g ground almonds
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 3 medium eggs
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp almond extract
• For pink sponge
• 1 x ingredients for almond sponge
• pink food colouring, we used ½ tsp Squires rose food paste
• To assemble
• 200g apricot jam
• 2 x 500g blocks white marzipan
• little icing sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line the base and sides of a 20cm square tin with baking parchment (the easiest way is to cross 2 x 20cm-long strips over the base). To make the almond sponge, put the butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and almond extract in a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk until the mix comes together smoothly. Scrape into the tin, spreading to the corners, and bake for 25-30 mins-when you poke in a skewer, it should come out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling while you make the second sponge.
2. For the pink sponge, line the tin as above. Mix all the ingredients together as above, but don't add the almond extract. Fold in some pink food colouring. Then scrape it all into the tin and bake as before. Cool.
3. To assemble, heat the jam in a small pan until runny, then sieve. Barely trim two opposite edges from the almond sponge, then well trim a third edge. Roughly measure the height of the sponge, then cutting from the well-trimmed edge, use a ruler to help you cut 4 slices each the same width as the sponge height. Discard or nibble leftover sponge. Repeat with pink cake.
4. Take 2 x almond slices and 2 x pink slices and trim so they are all the same length. Roll out one marzipan block on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar to just over 20cm wide, then keep rolling lengthways until the marzipan is roughly 0.5cm thick. Brush with apricot jam, then lay a pink and an almond slice side by side at one end of the marzipan, brushing jam in between to stick sponges, and leaving 4cm clear marzipan at the end. Brush more jam on top of the sponges, then sandwich remaining 2 slices on top, alternating colours to give a checkerboard effect. Trim the marzipan to the length of the cakes.
5. Carefully lift up the marzipan and smooth over the cake with your hands, but leave a small marzipan fold along the bottom edge before you stick it to the first side. Trim opposite side to match size of fold, then crimp edges using fingers and thumb (or, more simply, press with prongs of fork). If you like, mark the 10 slices using the prongs of a fork.
6. Assemble second Battenberg and keep in an airtight box or well wrapped in cling film for up to 3 days. Can be frozen for up to a month.

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Raspberry Bakewell Cake

This simple almondy cake is a great way of using up pick-your-own raspberries

• Cooking Time Prep 10 mins
  Cook 50 mins
• Skill Level Easy
• Servings Serves 8

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  411

• Protein

  8g

• Carbs

  35g

• Fat

  28g

• Saturates

  10g

• Fibre

  3g

• Sugar

  21g

• Salt

  0.5g

Ingredients

• 140g ground almonds
• 140g butter, softened
• 140g golden caster sugar
• 140g self-raising flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g raspberries
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds
• icing sugar, to serve

Directions

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and base-line and grease a deep 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Blitz the ground almonds, butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract in a food processor until well combined.
2. Spread half the mix over the cake tin and smooth over the top. Scatter the raspberries over, then dollop the remaining cake mixture on top and roughly spread-you might find this easier to do with your fingers. Scatter with flaked almonds and bake for 50 mins until golden. Cool, remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.

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Soured Cream Bundt Cake With Butter Glaze

Soured cream makes for a light and moist pretty, ring-shaped cake that's offset by a creamy, crunchy drizzle

• Cooking Time Prep 20 mins
  Cook 35 mins - 40 mins
• Skill Level Easy
• Servings Serves 16

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  215

• Protein

  2.1g

• Carbs

  25.6g

• Fat

  11.6g

• Saturates

  7g

• Fibre

  0.5g

• Sugar

  18g

• Salt

  0.2g

Ingredients

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 180g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 180g plain flour, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 150g soured cream
• Glaze
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g unsalted butter
• 4 tbsp water
• few drops vanilla extract

Directions

1. Grease and lightly flour a 1.4 litre (6 cup) fluted bundt tin. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
2. Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat well using an electric mixer until the mixture is very light and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Add a little flour if the mixture starts to separate. Add the vanilla extract.
3. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt and stir half into the butter mixture together with half the soured cream. Beat well together.
4. Add the remaining flour and soured cream and mix well. Spoon into the prepared tin and spread level.
5. Bake in the oven for 35-40 mins. When cooked remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins.
6. To make the glaze put all the ingredients into a small pan and heat until the butter has melted. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat a little and simmer for 3 mins. Remove from the heat and allow to cool and thicken.
7. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack over a tray. Pour or brush half of the glaze over the cake. Leave to soak in. Then pour the remaining glaze over the cake. Leave until completely cold before serving.

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Madeira Loaf Cake

A classic English sponge cake, delicately flavoured with lemon and almond - perfect for afternoon tea

• Cooking Time Prep 20 mins
  Cook 1 hr
• Skill Level Easy
• Servings Cuts into 8 slices

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  397

• Protein

  6.3g

• Carbs

  39.5g

• Fat

  23.6g

• Saturates

  12.3g

• Fibre

  1.4g

• Sugar

  22.6g

• Salt

  0.6g

Ingredients

• 175g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• grated zest 1 lemon
• few drops vanilla extract
• 200g self-raising flour
• 50g ground almonds

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Butter and line the base of a 900g loaf tin with greaseproof paper. Using an electric whisk, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the lemon zest and vanilla. Now beat in the flour and almonds until you have a thick batter. The batter should be loose enough that it falls off a wooden spoon, if it's too thick mix in a splash of milk.
2. Tip the batter into the tin and smooth over the top. Bake for 55 mins-1hr until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven then leave to cool for 15 mins then remove from the tin, peel away the paper and leave on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. The loaf will keep in an airtight container for three days.

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Peach Melba Roulade

Follow our step-by-step guide to rolling the perfect peach, cream and raspberry sponge roulade or Swiss roll

• Cooking Time Prep 35 mins
  Cook 15 mins
• Skill Level Moderately easy
• Servings Cuts into 10 slices

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  345

• Protein

  6g

• Carbs

  39g

• Fat

  18g

• Saturates

  10g

• Fibre

  2g

• Sugar

  31g

• Salt

  0.3g

Ingredients

• 50g butter, melted, then cooled, plus extra for the tin
• 6 large eggs
• 175g golden caster sugar, plus 3 tbsp extra for dusting
• 120g self-raising flour
• For the filling
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 420g can peaches in syrup, drained (reserve the syrup), and roughly chopped
• 75g raspberry coulis (we used ready-made from Waitrose)
• 150g pack raspberries
• 200ml double cream

Directions

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Butter and line a 25 x 35cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar using an electric hand mixer until light in colour and fluffy-this will take about 5 mins.
2. Sift the flour into the bowl. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold it into the eggs. Pour in the butter and quickly fold to combine. Be careful not to overmix, as this will knock all the air out of the whisked eggs. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and smooth out to the edges with your spoon. Bake for 12-15 mins until cooked through and springy.
3. Lay a sheet of baking parchment, larger than your sponge, on your work surface and dust with the remaining sugar. Flip the sponge onto the sugary surface and carefully peel off the parchment lining the base of the sponge. Use the sheet underneath to help you tightly roll up your roulade (see step-by-step guide). Leave to cool.
4. To make the filling, add the vanilla and 3 tbsp of the peach syrup to the cream and whisk with electric beaters until it forms soft peaks. Fold in half of the chopped peaches and ripple in half the coulis.
5. Unroll the roulade, remove the baking parchment and spread with the peachy cream. Scatter the raspberries and the remaining peaches over the top. Drizzle with the remaining coulis and tightly re-roll the roulade. Transfer to a serving plate or board and serve straight away.

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Dundee Cake

A famous traditional Scottish fruitcake with cherries, sultanas and almonds, and a sweet glaze

• Cooking Time Prep 35 mins
  Cook 1 hr, 45 mins
• Skill Level Easy
• Servings Serves 16

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  373

• Protein

  6.3g

• Carbs

  48.4g

• Fat

  17.2g

• Saturates

  6.7g

• Fibre

  2.2g

• Sugar

  38.6g

• Salt

  0.2g

Ingredients

• 100g blanched almonds
• 180g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 180g light muscovado sugar
• zest 1 large orange
• 3 tbsp apricot jam or marmalade
• 225g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 100g ground almonds
• 2 tbsp milk
• 500g mixed dried fruits
• 100g whole glacé cherries
• Glaze
• 1 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp caster sugar

Directions

1. Put the almonds into a small bowl and pour over boiling water to just cover. Leave for 5 mins then drain in a sieve and leave to dry.
2. Preheat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 5. Line a deep loose-based 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.
3. Put the butter in a large bowl and beat well until soft. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the orange zest and apricot jam.
4. Sieve together the flour and baking powder. Add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar, a little at a time, beating well between each addition. If the mixture starts to curdle, stir in a little flour.
5. Add the remaining flour and ground almonds and mix well. Mix in the milk and then add the dried fruit and cherries and mix gently together.
6. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread level using the back of a spoon. Arrange the whole almonds close together in neat circles on the top of the cake. Bake in the oven for 45 mins.
7. Lower the oven temperature to 160C/130 C fan/gas 2 and cook for a further 60-80 minutes. Check the cake after 50 minutes by inserting a wooden or metal skewer into the cake. When it's done it should have just a few crumbs attached. Check every 10 minutes -it's important not to overcook this cake so the centre will be a little soft.
8. When cooked, remove the cake briefly from the oven, put the milk and sugar into a small pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Brush over the top of the cake and return the cake to the oven for 2-3 mins. Remove and allow the cake to cool in the tin. When quite cold remove from the tin and wrap in foil and keep for at least 2 days before cutting.

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Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Retro rocks. This classic pineapple upside-down cake makes a fun centre piece for afternoon tea and brings back many childhood memories.

• Cooking Time Prep 15 mins
  Cook 40 mins
• Skill Level Easy
• Servings Serves 6

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  407

• Protein

  5g

• Carbs

  49g

• Fat

  23g

• Saturates

  14g

• Fibre

  1g

• Sugar

  36g

• Salt

  0.87g

Ingredients

• For the topping
• 50g softened butter
• 50g light soft brown sugar
• 7 pineapples rings in syrup, drained and syrup
• glacé cherry
• For the cake
• 100g softened butter
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 100g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

Directions

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. For the topping, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 20-21cm round cake tin. Arrange pineapple rings on top, then place cherries in the centres of the rings.
2. Place the cake ingredients in a bowl along with 2 tbsp of the pineapple syrup and, using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency. Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it's level. Bake for 35 mins. Leave to stand for 5 mins, then turn out onto a plate. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

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Little Coffee Cakes

These individual cupcakes with coffee frosting are easy to make and look great on a cake stand

• Cooking Time Prep 30 mins
  Cook 17 mins
• Skill Level Easy
• Servings Makes 18

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  268

• Protein

  2g

• Carbs

  26g

• Fat

  17g

• Saturates

  11g

• Fibre

  0g

• Sugar

  21g

• Salt

  0.4g

Ingredients

• 140g golden caster sugar
• 140g butter, softened
• 3 large eggs
• 140g self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp instant espresso mixed with 1 tbsp water
• few chocolate-coated coffee beans, to decorate (optional)
• For the icing
• 200g butter, softened
• 200g icing sugar
• 2 tsp instant espresso mixed with 1 tbsp water
• 50g plain chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Line 18 holes in 2 bun tins with fairy cake cases. Beat the sugar with the butter until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one by one, adding 1 tbsp flour at the same time. Beat in the rest of the flour along with the espresso. Spoon into the cake cases and bake for 17 mins, swapping the trays after 12 mins. Cool on a wire rack.
2. To make the icing, beat the butter until pale, then gradually beat in the icing sugar, followed by the espresso and the melted chocolate. When the cakes are completely cool, swirl the icing generously on top and decorate with coffee beans, if you like.

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Brilliant Banana Loaf

A cross between banana bread and a drizzle-topped sponge, this cake is great for using up overripe fruit

• Cooking Time Prep 15 mins
  Cook 30 mins
• Skill Level Easy
• Servings Cuts into 8-10 slices

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  268

• Protein

  3g

• Carbs

  34g

• Fat

  13g

• Saturates

  8g

• Fibre

  1g

• Sugar

  24g

• Salt

  0.5g

Ingredients

• 140g butter, softened, plus extra for the tin
• 140g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 140g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 50g icing sugar
• handful dried banana chips, for decoration

Directions

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter a 2lb loaf tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then slowly add the eggs with a little flour. Fold in the remaining flour, baking powder and bananas. Pour into the tin and bake for about 30 mins until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then remove to a wire rack.
3. Mix the icing sugar with 2-3 tsp water to make a runny icing. Drizzle the icing across the top of the cake and decorate with banana chips.

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