Raspberry and lemon curd madeleines

These little madeleines are the perfect thing after binging on rich, heavy food over Christmas.

Inspired by a recipe from Rachel Khoo (these ones are slightly easier and the batter doesn’t require to be left for several hours) they have a lovely, soft, lemony bite with a sharp raspberry centre, filled with gooey lemon curd. Yum!

Makes 24 madeleines:

2 free-range eggs

100g caster sugar

100g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

¾ tsp baking powder

1 lemon – juice and zest

100g butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus extra for greasing

Punnet of raspberries

100g good quality lemon curd

Icing sugar to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Brush the madeleine tray with melted butter and then shake in a little flour to coat, tapping out the excess over your sink.
3. Whisk together the eggs and the sugar in a bowl until frothy.
4. Lightly whisk in the remaining ingredients until well combined.
5. Leave to stand for 20 minutes – you should notice that a few bubbles have formed and that the batter is thick and creamy.
6. Carefully spoon a teaspoon of the mixture into each madeleine shell and firmly press a raspberry down into the batter.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture has risen a little in the middle and is fully cooked through.
8. Spoon the lemon curd into a cooking syringe and put in the fridge.
9. Transfer the madeleines to a wire rack and leave for a few minutes to cool slightly.
10. Inject each madeleine with a teaspoon’s worth of lemon curd.
11. Lay each madeleine on a flat surface and dust with icing sugar.

Apple and Blackberry Tray Bake

There’s so many scrummy blackberries around at the moment and they’re delicious when combined with apples, cinnamon and nutmeg. This tray bake combines all of these things and it’s perfect for a chilly Sunday morning with a hot mug of coffee.

The mixture is quite dense but rises in the oven to make a yummy, light, fruity cake whilst the Demerara sugar on top gives it a lovely little crunch.

Makes 12 squares:

450g Bramley apples

150g blackberries

Juice of ½ lemon

225g butter, softened

280g golden caster sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

350g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 grated whole nutmeg

Demerara sugar, to sprinkle

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 27cm x 20cm rectangular tin with baking paper.
2. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and squeeze the lemon juice over.
3. Put the butter, caster sugar, eggs, vanilla bean paste, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and the grated nutmeg into a large bowl and beat until smooth.
4. Spread half the mixture into the pre-lined tin. Arrange half the apples and blackberries over the batter, then repeat the layers so that the fruit is proudly displayed on top.
5. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and bake for 45 minutes until golden and baked through.
6. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, turn out of the tin and remove the paper.

Lemon and blueberry cupcakes

I refuse to accept that Autumn is on its way after the lovely summer we’ve had in London. And these little cupcakes are making the colder days just that little bit more bearable…

By plonking blueberries into the bottom of the batter, you get a lovely blueberry jam that forms with the zesty lemon cake. It is de-lish.

The best thing about these little pretties though is the cheesecake frosting. A mix of cream cheese, butter, sour cream and icing sugar, words cannot describe how good it is! A little naughty, but hey, blueberries are one of your five a day, right?

Makes 12 cupcakes:

125g softened butter
125g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
100g self raising flour (sifted)
2 tbsp of milk
2 lemons

For the frosting:

200g cream cheese
25g butter
1 tbsp sour cream
200g icing sugar

1. Heat the oven to 180°C and set out 12 cupcake cases in a muffin tray. Drop 3 blueberries into each of the cases.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Add the eggs, flour, milk, the zest of the two lemons and little squeeze of juice. Fold the batter until smooth.
3. Spoon 1 tbsp of mixture into each case, over the blueberries, and bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.
4. Once cool, beat the cream cheese, butter and sour cream in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until smooth.
5. Dunk a spoonful of icing onto each cupcake and top with blueberries.

Orange and lemon tea-bread

This is the perfect cake to have hanging around on the weekend. Sharp and zesty with little slivers of fruity icing, it’s perfect with coffee in the morning or to have as part of a fancy afternoon tea.

It uses much less butter than in a typical cake recipe which gives it a sturdier texture… and makes you feel less guilty when you go back for a second (or third) slice!

Makes 1 loaf:

2 cups plain four

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup melted unsalted butter

Zest of 2 lemons

Zest of 2 oranges

2 beaten eggs

For the glaze:

Juice of half an orange

1 cup sifted icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius and grease a loaf tin (8×4 inch or 9×5 inch) with butter.
2. In a medium bowl, sift in the flour and baking powder and tip in the sugar and salt.
3. In a large bowl, combine the milk, orange juice, melted butter, zest and eggs and stir. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir so that all the ingredients are just combined.
4. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 50 minutes until the loaf springs back when poked.
5. Carefully loosen the sides and tip out from the dish. Leave to rest on a cooling rack until completely cool.
6. Combine 1 tbsp of orange juice with 1 cup icing sugar in a bowl and mix until smooth and runny.
7. Load a tablespoon with the icing and slowly drizzle over the top of the cake.