Vanilla and lemon cake

I found this lemon cake recipe in my mother's book. I don't remember her ever making it but she must have meant to, one day. It's slightly different from a lemon drizzle cake as it uses ground almonds and it is topped with a creamy icing made with mascarpone and lemon curd. Looking at the ingredients, I think this came from a supermarket magazine! It's a good one for the summer months ...

200g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

grated zest of 3 lemons

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

50g lemon curd (about a tablespoon)

250g plain flour

200g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Icing

2 x 250g tubs of mascarpone cheese

125g lemon curd

4 tbsp icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins with greaseproof paper.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate into a bowl and stir in the ground almonds.

In a separate large bowl, cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Zest the lemons directly into the bowl and stir in. Next, add the eggs one at a time alternating with a spoonful of the flour mixture and beat well. Stir in the vanilla extract and the lemon curd, and then add the dry ingredients, beating well to combine. Put half of the mix into each cake tin and level with a knife. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

While your cakes are cooling, make the icing. Simply mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and put into the fridge to keep cool until you’re ready to use it.

If your cakes have risen in the middle, level them off with a knife before icing. Then spread a quarter of the icing onto the first cake, top with the second one, and spread the remainder of the icing over the top and sides. Use a palette knife to smooth it down and decorate as you wish - I drizzled lines of chocolate across the top to create a simple geometric pattern.

Sun-dried tomato, olive and cheese loaf

A classic Mediterranean combination which is perfect for a quick snack or as an accompaniment to a meal. You can play around with the ingredients to suit your taste - omit the olives and add a few more sun-dried tomatoes or use oregano instead of basil - and, of course, the best thing is there's no yeast, so once it's all mixed, it's straight into the oven!

250g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 large eggs, beaten

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp tomato puree

150g mature cheddar cheese, grated

75g pitted black olives, sliced or chopped

6 sun-dried tomatoes, (drain and dry on kitchen paper if in oil), chopped

handful of chopped fresh basil

pinch of salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200ºC and grease a 450g (1lb) loaf tin.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the beaten eggs. Mix together with a spoon, add the olive oil and tomato puree and combine until you have a soft dough. Stir in the cheese, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper and spoon into the loaf tin.

Bake for 30 minutes and then turn the oven temperature down to 160ºC and bake for a further 20 minutes. It is ready when it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom. Take out of the tin and leave on a wire rack to cool.

Cheese and Chive Scones

These are a savoury version of my basic scone recipe using a mature cheddar cheese and chives (straight from my garden) to create a quick snack. Also good as an accompaniment to a bowl of home made soup on a chilly evening.

450g self-raising flour

pinch each of baking powder, cayenne and salt

25g caster sugar

60g butter, diced

1 egg, beaten

50ml double cream

200ml milk

75g mature cheddar cheese

2 tbsp of chives, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 190ºC and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Sieve the flour, baking powder, cayenne and salt into a large bowl and stir in the caster sugar. Cut the butter into cubes and rub into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then stir in the grated cheese and chives and make a well in the centre. (Tip: The easiest way to chop the chives is to bunch them together and snip the ends off with a pair of scissors).

Next, whisk the egg, cream and milk together and stir into the dry ingredients - I use a flat bladed knife to start this off and then get stuck in with my hands. Put the soft dough onto a floured surface and roll out lightly to about 20mm thick. Cut out shapes with a circular cutter and place onto the baking sheets. Sprinkle some grated cheese over the tops and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

This makes 12-18 scones depending on the size of your cutter. Serve warm from the oven.