Victoria Sponge

A lovely, easy, basic recipe that's easy to play with to give you flavour variations.

Makes: 1 large cake or 4 dozen cupcakes
Takes: 10 minutes + baking time

Ingredients

8 oz caster sugar
8 oz butter or margarine
4 eggs
4 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
8 oz self-raising flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200oC/180oC fan and grease and line a large round cake tin.
2. Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy (I use a handheld electric whisk, but you could use a food processor or just beat by heand with a wooden spoon).
3. Beat in the eggs, milk and vanilla then sift in the flour and mix well.
4. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for about 45-50 minutes until well-risen, golden brown, and springy to the touch. Check by pushing a skewer into the centre - if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.
5. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn onto a wire rack. When cold, cut in half horizontally, spread one half with jam and sandwich the pieces back together. Sprinkle sugar on the top just before serving.

Variations: You could add different essences instead of vanilla. For chocolate cake, instead of milk, add 4 heaped teaspoons cocoa powder mixed with 4 tablespoons boiling water. For fillings you can use lemon curd, chocolate spread, buttercream; or whipped fresh cream; for toppings, glace icing, melted chocolate, more buttercream or fresh cream... Use your imagination!

Alternative: You can use this same recipe to make cupcakes by spooning the mixture into paper cases in a cupcake tin. These will only need 15-20 minutes to cook.

Top tip: If you want a smooth flat surface for icing or chocolate, turn the cake upside down before decorating.

Cheat's Stroganof

A great way to use up leftover meat from a roast dinner. Quantities given are a little vague, as it really depends how much meat you have left over!

Cheat's Stroganof

Makes: Depends how much meat you have
Takes: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Cooked meat of any kind (chicken, beef, pork - the photo shows a mixture of turkey and gammon)
Condensed mushroom soup
Black pepper

Method

1. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces.
2. Put into a saucepan and add enough condensed soup to coat the meat and give you a 'sauce'.
3. Heat through and season with plenty of black pepper.

Spare portions freeze well, just defrost and heat through when required.
With the soup, I just add a tin at a time - we usually have a few tins in the storecupboard ready for making this recipe.
I often add sliced mushrooms, though they don't tend to freeze so well so they're better to add to the portion you're going to eat straight away! You could add onions and a bit of garlic, too. Just start off with a small amount of oil in the saucepan and saute till soft before adding the meat and soup.

Chocolate Surprise Pudding

As it cooks, it separates out into a sponge topping with a lovely crunchy crust, and a rich chocolate sauce underneath. Yum!

Chocolate Surprise Pudding

Makes: Enough for 4-6 people
Takes: 10 minutes + at least 1 hour chilling time + about 45 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

4 1/2 oz plain flour
1 pinch salt
2 1/4 oz caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
4 fl oz milk
1 1/2 oz butter, melted
1 egg
6 oz demerara sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
9 fl oz boiling water

Method

1. Grease a 1 1/4 pint pie dish.
2. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and 2 tbsp cocoa powder.
3. Combine the milk, butter and egg in a separate bowl then mix into the dry ingredients.
4. Pour into the pie dish, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (overnight is fine if you want to make it in advance).
5. Preheat the oven at 180oC.
6. Sift the other 2 tbsp cocoa powder and mix with the demerara sugar and sprinkle over the top of the pudding.
7. Pour over the boiling water then bake for 45 minutes, until puffy and firm.

Keep an eye on it - I usually find it only needs about 30 minutes at 180oC in a fan oven.
Good hot, warm or cold :-)

Mincemeat Truffles

Very easy to make but rather sticky!!

Mincemeat Truffles

Makes: 30
Takes: 15 minutes + chilling time

Ingredients

300g white chocolate
4 tbsp double cream
3 tbsp mincemeat

Method

1. Melt together 200g of the chocolate with the cream then stir in the mincemeat till the suet has melted.
2. Line a baking tin with cling film and pour in the chocolate mixture then chill for an hour.
3. Grate the remaining chocolate. Divide the chilled mixture into 30 pieces, shape into balls and roll in the grated chocolate.
4. Chill for 1 hour until firm.

I recommend just grating a bit of chocolate at a time as you probably won't need all of it - and then you get to eat the leftover piece :-)

Mince pies

This is my new favourite way to make mince pies. You can top each pie with pastry if you prefer, though of course you will need more pastry in that case. When topping with pastry I usually cut out star shapes with a cookie cutter and pop a star on each pie rather than cutting circles to completely cover the mincemeat, but again, go with your own preference. Or give this recipe a try instead!

Mince pies

Makes: 24 pies
Takes: 20 minutes + 20 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

500g packet shortcrust pastry (or make your own if you must)
About 1 lb mincemeat (shop-bought, or see recipe here)
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 oz self-raising flour

Method

1. Roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick and cut rounds with a cookie cutter or large glass. Use to line the holes in a cupcake tin.
2. Spoon one teaspoonful of mincemeat into each pastry case then set the tray aside.
3. Make the sponge topping: cream together the sugar and butter then beat in the eggs. Add the milk and vanilla, then sift in the flour and mix well.
4. Spoon one teaspoonful of sponge mixture onto each pie, smoothing over to cover the mincemeat.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes, till the sponge is golden and well-risen. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack till cold.

Delicious eaten warm or cold, with cream, brandy butter or custard or just as they are! They freeze well too.

Mincemeat

I have to be careful with mincemeat because of my nut allergy, so I make my own to be certain it's safe to eat. I think this version tastes nicer, anyway - it's not quite so rich and sickly sweet as the shop-bought varieties!

Mincemeat

Makes: Lots - about 9lb! You might want to try using just a third of each ingredient unless you're catering for a large number of people!
Takes: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

2 lb cooking apples
12 oz carrots
8 oz mixed peel
1 1/2 lb currants
1 1/2 lb sultanas
12 oz shredded suet (vegetable suet if you want vegetarian mincemeat)
1 1/2 lb soft brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 pint brandy (or apple juice if you prefer)

Method

1. Peel, core and grate the apple - a food processor with grater blade is best for this step. Peel and grate the carrots, again using a food processor if you have one.
2. Put all the ingredients except the brandy (or apple juice) into a LARGE bowl, mix well, cover, and leave for 24 hours.
3. Add the brandy, mix again, and pack into sterilised jars.

Make lots of mince pies! Also good in mincemeat cake, mincemeat crumble slices or mincemeat truffles - look out for those recipes soon.

Chocolate Treats

These measurements are quite vague, but that's just to give you flexibility.... For info, I used about 250g of each variety of chocolate and made about 30 of these treats each time. These look great, taste great, and are easy to make. Ideal for a handmade gift.

Chocolate Treats

Makes: Depends on how much chocolate you use

Takes: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

Chocolate (milk, plain or white)

Toppings - raisins, chopped cranberries, chopped crystallised ginger, chopped nuts, tiny sweets - use your imagination!

Method

• Melt the chocolate, either in a bowl over simmering water or in short bursts in the microwave.
• Drop teaspoonfuls onto non-stick baking parchment.
• Sprinkle over your chosen topping and leave to set.

It's that easy :-) Store in an airtight container in a cool place - will keep for several weeks so can be made in advance for Christmas presents.

Recommended combinations: plain chocolate and ginger, milk chocolate and raisins, white chocolate and cranberries.