Easy baking recipes for Mother’s Day

Makes: 20x30cm traybake, 15 bars

Ingredients:

150g plain flour

150g caster sugar, split into 50g and 100g

200g unsalted butter, softened, split into 2 x 100g

150g ground almonds

1 egg

200g raspberry jam

Handful of flaked almonds

Icing sugar to dust

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 165C (fan).

2. Put all of the plain flour and 50g of caster sugar in the mixing bowl before rubbing in 100g of unsalted butter with your fingertips. When the mixture resembles crumbs, pour it into the lined traybake tin, spread it evenly and press it down so the crumbs loosely join together. Bake the base for 15 minutes.

3. While the base is baking, combine the remaining 100g of butter, 100g caster sugar, ground almonds and the egg in the mixing bowl with a spoon to make the frangipane topping.

4. When the base has had its 15 minutes, remove it from the oven and add the jam, spreading it with the back of the spoon to make an even layer over the top, followed by all of the frangipane mix (this will be a thicker layer) and a sprinkling of flaked almonds before returning to the oven for a further 30 minutes.

5. When the traybake is golden on top, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the tin. Dust the whole thing with icing sugar, slice into bars and top with more flaked almonds. Enjoy!

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Makes: 3-layer 6-inch cake or 2-layer 8-inch cake

Ingredients:

370g unsalted butter, softened, split into 250g and 120g

400g caster sugar split into 250g and 150g

4 eggs

250g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 fresh espressos (120ml) or 1 tbsp + 1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 5 tbsp of boiling water

150g pecans, roughly chopped + extra for decorating.

150ml double cream

1 tsp salt

500g icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 160C (fan) and line your cake tins with baking parchment.

2. To make the sponge, cream together 250g of the butter and 250g of the caster sugar then add the eggs and mix until combined.

3. Add in the flour and baking powder, followed by two of the espressos, and mix until no lumps remain.

4. Gently stir in the roughly chopped pecans and divide the batter evenly between the two or three cake tins, depending on how many you’re using. Use the back of the wooden spoon to level.

5. Bake the sponges for 20-25 minutes until golden and springy to touch and allow to cool completely. If they aren’t springy, put back into the oven and check again after 5 minutes.

6. Whilst the sponges are cooling, make your caramel by heating the remaining 150g of caster sugar and water together in a saucepan over a medium-high heat until boiling, without stirring – the sugar will naturally dissolve. Try not to agitate the caramel as it cooks and only swirl if necessary, do not stir with a spoon.

7. Once the caramel has become amber in colour (around 5 minutes) and the bubbles are small, pour in the double cream, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon as you do so. It will bubble up and create a lot of steam, so be cautious. Once combined, stir in the salt and transfer the caramel to a bowl to cool.

8. Once the caramel is cool, rinse the mixing bowl and spoon to make your buttercream. Combine the remaining 120g butter, icing sugar, final espresso in the bowl and cream together until smooth.

9. Save 60g caramel for the drip, then assemble your cake by sandwiching each layer with the buttercream and a spoonful of caramel spread on top before lightly coating the top and sides with the remaining buttercream to achieve a naked cake effect, scraping off any excess with the knife. If your remaining caramel has thickened up, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds before pouring on top of the cake and teasing down the sides to create drips using the tip of your knife.

10. Sprinkle some roughly chopped and whole pecans around the top edge and serve.

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Makes: 2lb loaf

Ingredients:

1 grapefruit/orange or 2 x lemons/limes

175g self-raising flour

175g caster sugar + 75g for soaking syrup

175g unsalted butter, softened

3 eggs

120ml gin split into 50ml and 70ml

75ml tonic water

150g icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 165C (fan).

2. Take whichever citrus you are using and cut half into slices for decorating (½ grapefruit/orange or 1 whole lemon/lime). Zest and juice the other half using the fine grater/zester to zest and the fork to get the juice from the fruit.

3. In the large mixing bowl, combine the self-raising flour, citrus zest and 175g of caster sugar. Add the butter, eggs, 50ml of gin, 2 tbsp of citrus juice and mix with the electric hand whisk until smooth.

4. Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin and bake for 35 minutes until golden and springy to touch. Remove from the oven but leave in the tin.

5. While the loaf is cooling slightly, pour the remaining citrus juice, tonic and 75g sugar into the saucepan and heat on a medium-high heat for 5-8 minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved. Allow to cool slightly before stirring in the remaining gin (70ml). Set aside 3 tbsp of the syrup for the glaze.

6. Poke the loaf all over with the fork and drizzle with the syrup from the saucepan. You can do this while the loaf is still warm.

7. When the loaf is completely cool, remove from the tin. Wipe clean your mixing bowl and then use it to combine the 3 tbsp of reserved syrup with the icing sugar to make a glaze and pour over the top of your loaf, slightly pushing it down the sides with the end of a spoon to create a drip effect. Decorate with citrus slices and serve.

Recipes from the Easy Peasy Baking campaign in partnership with Bonne Maman. You can find more recipes and information at fabflour.co.uk/easy-peasy-baking.