The nights are drawing in, the temperatures are getting shivery. Verily, it’s the time for comfort eating. Which is primarily why I’ve been baking this beauty quite a lot recently. This isn’t a bog standard choc cake by any means. The sponge is so soft and appealing, you could almost lay your head on it. The rich caramelly chocolate topping borders on the addictive. Read more

Here’s a special call out – and suggestion – to any veggie gardeners out there, currently knee deep in courgettes, who are wondering what an earth to do with them all.

PUT THEM IN A CAKE!

Did you know that courgettes are the Prince Charming of cake ingredients? They bring such a lovely lightness and joy to a cake sponge, it could almost float away. Which surely makes this spicey limey nutty creamy work of art, a perfect Summer afternoon sweet treat to get your gnashers round.Read more

Anyone remember these from your birthday parties when you were a tiddler? I think the last time I made some was probably as teenager on Sunday afternoons. I used to love that a fat pocket of sumptuous icing (the best part), sat right in the middle of these cakes – rather than perching prissily on the top. That way you got a gorgeous dollop of cream with every cakey mouthful. Read more

I love browsing food recipes in bookshops, particularly recipes for sinful sweet treats. They can usually be adapted to a minimal sugar, low carbohydrate version with a little scheming. When I stumbled across the notion of a sandwich cake that combined orange and mixed spice, my heart was won.  

And what better champion to help replace the original recipe’s white flour and bring some texture and earthy sweetness to the venture, than the humble parsnip? Read more

If you’re looking for full throttle cake sumptuousness, you can't really beat a Victoria Sandwich, can you?

And this cake wins hands down. Read more