Maybe the biggest myth about baking cakes, apart from the idea that it’s only for sissies, is that it requires a considerable amount of time, patience and skill when in fact the opposite is true; making your own cakes must be one of the easiest, most therapeutic and rewarding past-times ever. Anyone can do it. The cakes in this chapter are divided into three sections: things to make with your children just for the fun of it; wholesome cakes full of fruit, bran, oats, nuts and seeds, which are healthy enough to eat for breakfast (although I’m not sure how to square that with the fact that I wouldn’t normally eat the cakes in the first section for breakfast, even though some of them contain breakfast cereal); and special occasion cakes for when you have more time and feel like showing off a bit.

What You Need

Everything here can be made just as easily in a blender or food processor, but I prefer my old handheld electric whisk because it gives me a bit more control over the whole process and saves on the washing up. The only other things you need are a large mixing bowl, metal tablespoons, a set of scales or a measuring jug, and a couple of cake tins.

Cake Tins

A standard size (1lb) loaf tin is perfect for tea breads. For larger cakes I nearly always use two shallower 7? (18 cm) sandwich tins instead of one deeper tin; it’s easier to judge the cooking time that way and it dispenses with the hassle of cutting a much bigger cake in half if you want to fill it with jam or cream afterwards. Where a recipe requires one cake tin rather than a standard loaf tin or sandwich tins, an 8? tin (21 cm) – round or square – generally works well, although the one I use at home is actually a rectangular roasting tin with straight sides, roughly 8? x 10? (21 cm x 28 cm) and about 1 1/2 (3 cm) deep.

You can always use an old biscuit tin instead of a cake tin, the only difference being that a biscuit tin won’t be non-stick, so make sure you grease it well and line it completely. Biscuit tins make good substitutes when you want something more unusual – a heart-shaped or octagonal cake, for instance – and you can’t find the tin you want in the shops.

Lining The Tin

You don’t have to fiddle around trying to make little bits of greaseproof paper or baking parchment fit all four sides of the cake tin. A lot of cake recipes tell you to ‘base line’ the tin, but I like to cut one long piece of greaseproof which goes across the bottom of the tin and up two of the sides, leaving about an inch (2 or 3 cms) of surplus sticking up above the edge. This makes it easy to lift the cake straight out of tin afterwards; I’ve called it long-strip-lining in the recipes. For round cakes, draw a circle round the bottom of the tin straight onto the greaseproof paper. If you’re using two shallow sandwich tins you won’t need to line the sides.

Grease cake tins with a different fat from the one you’re using in the cake mixture; for example, if the recipe calls for butter, grease the tin with sunflower oil for a guaranteed non-stick result. Use screwed-up greaseproof paper (or kitchen roll if you’re using oil) to grease the bottom and sides of the tin; then line the tin with the greaseproof paper and lightly grease that too.

How To Tell When The Cake Is Cooked

Smaller, individual cakes should be soft and springy but firm to the touch. For larger cakes, insert a skewer or a very thin, sharp knife into the middle of the cake; if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. If the cake is cooked on the outside but still a bit gooey on the inside (i.e. the skewer comes out streaked with raw cake mixture) cover the top with a couple of layers of greaseproof paper, or silver foil with the shiny side down to draw more heat towards the inside of the cake.