Simple Cakes: Mary Berry (E)

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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 out the icing sugar then add a few spoons of water. Mix it together until it’s smooth. You don’t want the icing to be too runny otherwise it will run off the fairy cakes. If it is too runny, add a little more icing sugar to stiffen it up. Likewise if it is too stiff and add a drop or two more water. Line a baking sheet with dough cutouts. Fill the cutouts as much as possible while leaving enough space around them to seal the pastries.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until well-risen and just set around the edges. Take out of the oven and rest for 10 minutes to allow the top of the cheesecake to become level and flat.

Place one cake on a cake stand and spread a third of the icing over the top. Place the second cake on top. Spread the remaining icing over the sides and top of the cake. Sprinkle with the chopped fudge. Get your kids to line a muffin tin with 12 fairy cake cases. If you only have larger cupcake cases, don’t worry, use them but know you won’t get 12 cakes out of the mixture unless you ammend the quantities as we’ve outlined above. Mix all the ingredients together Meanwhile, to make the icing, measure the butter and icing sugar into a large bowl. Whisk together with an electric hand whisk until pale and creamy. Add the salt and the remaining caramel from the tin and whisk until just mixed. Make sure you do not overbeat, as it could spilt.

If you don’t have self raising flour, swap it for an equal amount of plain or all-purpose flour and put in an extra teaspoon of baking powder. 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. Return to the oven for a final 10 minutes, until the cheesecake is just set with a slight wobble in the middle.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. Fairy cakes rather than cupcakes were the bake of my childhood, although both are delicious in their own ways.

Start with the butter. Using a blunt knife, chop the butter into small pieces to make it easier to mix. If it’s not soft (we always forget to take it out the fridge), pop it in the microwave for a few seconds, but not long enough to melt it. If you’re using baking spread or margarine you can add it straight in. 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. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease two 20cm/8in sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper. 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.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.