Baking Made Easy

80g (3oz) caster sugar, plus a bit extra for finishing

Seeds of ½ vanilla pod or 2 drops of vanilla extract

1 tbsp warm water

80g (3oz) plain flour

Pinch of salt

Mascarpone cream

250g (9oz) mascarpone

2 tbsp icing sugar

Seeds of ½ vanilla pod or 2 drops of vanilla extract

Equipment

23 x 33cm (9 x 13in) Swiss roll tin or small roasting tin lined with baking paper

To make the filling, put about a third of the strawberries in a blender or food processor with the granulated sugar and blitz well. Transfer to a bowl and add the Marsala or orange juice. Stir in the remaining strawberries and place in the fridge. The flavour gets better the longer you leave it, so do this a few hours ahead if you can, though if you are ready to go now then a minimum of 30 minutes is fine.

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F), Gas Mark 5. Grease the Swiss roll tin and line the base with baking paper.

For the sponge, put the eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until the mixture is very pale yellow, foamy and mousse-like. Fold in the warm water with a large metal spoon. This helps prevent the Swiss roll from cracking when you roll it later. Sift over the flour and salt and fold in gently with the metal spoon. Don’t overmix here or you will knock out the air and the Swiss roll will lose its sponginess. The trick is to incorporate all the flour with as few ‘folds’ as possible.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and level it gently with a palette knife or the back of a large spoon. Bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes, or until it has shrunk a little from the sides of the tin and feels springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and turn the cake out onto a sheet of baking paper sprinkled with caster sugar. Leave for 10 minutes, then gently peel the lining paper off the sponge and leave to cool completely. In a large bowl, gently mix together all the ingredients for the mascarpone cream until smooth.

To assemble the cake, trim off any rough edges of the sponge with a sharp serrated knife if necessary to get the sides nice and tidy, then spread the mascarpone cream all over the sponge, leaving a small margin so it does not squelch out when it is rolled. Spoon the macerated strawberries out of the purée and scatter over the mascarpone filling. Drizzle a third of the strawberry purée over it as well (reserving the rest).

Here comes the best bit. With the shortest side facing you, begin to roll up the sponge (away from you) using the baking paper to help. Try to do it as tightly as you can for an impressive-looking finish. Once you have rolled it all up, make sure the join is underneath so it does not come undone. Carefully lift onto a serving plate. You can do this with your hands or use two fish slices or spatulas.

Sprinkle with some caster sugar and decorate with extra sliced strawberries. Serve in slices with the remaining strawberry sauce drizzled over. Best on a hot summer’s day with some fresh lemonade.

Battenberg

I once punked this up for a birthday party – the yellow sponge became black and the pink became a psychedelic shocking pink. A year on, I’m still trying to get the black dye off the kitchen surfaces, but the cake was a great success. Serves 6–8 (V)

100g (3½oz) apricot jam

150g (5oz) cold butter, cubed

150g (5oz) caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

150g (5oz) plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

3 medium eggs

Few drops of both yellow and pink (or red) food colouring

Icing sugar, for dusting

250g (9oz) golden marzipan

Equipment

Two 22 x 12cm (8¾ x 4¾in) loaf tins

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas Mark 4. Line the loaf tins with baking paper. The mixture only came up a third of the way in each, which worked well.

Put the jam in a small pan and heat gently until warm then remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool.

Put the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in an electric mixer and mix until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. If you are doing this by hand, cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, add the eggs, beating well after each addition, then add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to combine.

Divide the mixture into 2 bowls and colour one with the yellow colouring and the other with the pink. You don’t need much pink or red colouring, usually only one drop, or you’ll end up with a psychedelic battenburg!

Dollop the yellow cake mixture into one tin and the pink into the other and bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the thickest part comes out clean.

Leave the sponges to cool for 10 minutes. Place some baking paper sprinkled with sugar on a wire rack and turn the sponges out onto them. This will give the sponges a more even top. Leave to cool completely. Once the sponges are cold, peel off the baking paper and with the longest side facing you, cut the sponges in half horizontally, Stick the pieces together with the apricot jam as in the picture.

Dust the work surface with some icing sugar, place the marzipan on the sugar and knead slightly to soften. Roll the marzipan out to a rectangle that is large enough to cover the longest edges of the cake. Place the sponge on the marzipan to measure so you have enough marzipan to wrap around the cake.

To assemble the cake, spread some jam over one side of the cake and place it spread side down at the edge of your rectangle. Then spread all of the remaining 3 long sides with the jam. Roll the cake along the marzipan, pressing gently as you go to make sure it sticks well.