EXCELLENT, FOOL-PROOF, POTTY-TRAINED, TRIED AND TESTED, COULD BE DONE BY A BABY

(IF YOUR OTHER HALF CALLS YOU THAT)

SWEET

CARROT CAKE This is one of my all time great recipes, it never fails. If you want to make a sugar free version, replace the sugar with a couple of shredded apples, some apple juice and some saltanas, if you want a nut free version, ditch the pecans and feel free to add some saltanas or not. There are other variations of topping you could do too like an orange or lemon glaze using sugar, water and juice + zest of the fruit, cook till the sugar melts and then pour over. Cake 4 eggs 200ml of veg oil 200g white sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 200g plain flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder half teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 300g grated carrots 100g chopped pecans Topping 50g of softened butter (don't use marg or any substitute as it gets too runny) 225g cream cheese 400g icing sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 100g chopped pecans (1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175C). Grease and flour 10 inch pan for a single layer cake (or an 8 inch pan for a deeper cake). (2) In large bowl - beat eggs, oil, white sugar, 2 tsp vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda and powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour in tin. (3) Bake for 40-50 mins. Cool for 10 mins. Cool on wire rack completely. (4) Topping - In bowl combine and beat ingredients (except pecans) until creamy. If too runny at this stage put in fridge for a while and it will harden up. Then pour over cake, drag a fork across it to create nice pattern and sprinkle pecans on top, then refrigerate to let topping harden up abit. Yummy!

BAKED CHEESECAKE Prepare this a day ahead of when it’s required to give it time to settle and cool properly. Oven 150C (300F/Gas 2) - Butter a 9-inch spring form cake tin Ingredients 1kg cream cheese 200g sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract Half a teaspoon of salt 4 eggs Grated zest of one lemon For the base 75g butter 200g digestive biscuits – crushed to an even consistency (can use ginger or chocolate biscuits etc) 45g sugar Melt the butter in the microwave and pour over the biscuit crumbs and sugar until it starts to cling together and then pour into the tin and flatten down with a spoon to an even level. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes so it’s lightly toasted. Remove and leave to cool whilst you get on with the cheesecake mixture. Beat the cream-cheese until soft, add the sugar, vanilla and salt and continue mixing until creamy (up to 4 minutes). Add the eggs and beat until smooth. Stir in the lemon zest. Pour this on top of the biscuits crumbs and bake for 1-1.5 hours, the cheesecake will be a little wobbly in the middle, keep the cheesecake in the oven but turn the oven off and either prop the door open slightly with a wooden spoon or something else or if you feel the cheesecake may be slightly more underdone than you’d like, leave the door closed and leave the cake in there for 1 hour. Then put the cheesecake in the fridge overnight. To remove from the tin, warm the edges of the tin with your hands, slide a knife around the inner edge to release it from the cake and remove the outer edge of the tin. You can either serve the cake on the base of the tin if you are worried about removal or if you have a large thin spatula type implement you may be able to gently slide the cake off the base onto a plate. Top the cake with anything you fancy, compote, fruit, chocolate or jam, here (in the photo) I put on berries and grapes and then melted some apricot jam in the microwave before pouring it over to seal the berries. Lovely!

MOIST PLUM CAKE Yummy soft indulgent sponge cake. Ideally use plums that are very soft or they may be a bit tart, if this is unavoidable, then just sprinkle extra sugar over the plums before baking which may help sweeten them up a bit. Heat oven to between 180 and 200 depending on the heat of your oven. My oven isn’t very accurate so I usually go for 200C. INGREDIENTS 180g butter 160g sugar 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla essence 225g self raising flour (or mix half/half plain flour with self-raising) Pinch of salt Enough plums that cut in half will cover the cake (depending on size up to 12) A sprinkling of sugar (optional) To serve (once cooled) Icing sugar sifted over it Crème Fraiche or cream on the side Butter and paper a 20-30cm baking tray or pie dish. Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy, add the eggs and then beat. Stir in the vanilla essence and add the flour(s), salt and beat again until smooth. Put in tray. Cut plums in half and arrange on top cut side up, pushing them gently into the mixture and if the plums are a bit under-ripe, add a sprinkling of sugar over them. Cook for around 30 minutes. Cool.

SAVOURY

SAUSAGE CASSEROLE You can't fail with this recipe as it's so easy, I hate faffing about with different pots and pans and preparing everything separately, the sausages and bacon lift the lentils to that lovely french level and the wine and tomatoes give it depth, I often add any other veg that I find lying about as well as canned beans I've got in the cupboard, even baked beans, it's really healthy and the kids love it, great served with some of that bread that you can get par-baked so it's nice, hot and crunchy. I put some parsley in the photo but that's just for decoration as if the kids see it coming, they run in the opposite direction as it looks like salad, so definitely only for show. (serves 4) Heat oven to top temperature 230C Ingredients 8 large sausages Black dried lentils rinsed in cold water - 250g for 4 people Vegetable stock - 1 pint approx (any stock will do) Red wine - a good couple of glasses (or any wine) Tin chopped tomatoes 4 carrots sliced 4 Bacon rashers cut into lardons 3 or 4 garlic cloves chopped 3 celery sticks chopped Seasoning Method Put everything into a large deep oven tray, mix it about and cook for between 45 and 90 minutes depending on how good your oven is, mixing it all around and turning over the sausages every now and then, I know it's a large variant in timings but if your sausages are part frozen which mine sometimes are as I forgot to take them out of the fridge, then 90 minutes is also needed to cook these properly, when the lentils are cooked and most of the liquid has been absorbed, it's ready! Delish!