Rachel Allen - Cake - 200 fabulous foolproof baking recipes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Baking time: 40–50 minutes

Ready in: 1 hour 30 minutes

Serves: 6–8

200g (7oz) butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

200g (7oz) caster sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

200ml (7fl oz) sour cream

300g (11oz) plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

For the glaze

Juice of 1 orange

100g (3½oz) marmalade

20cm (8in) diameter cake tin with 6cm (2½ in) sides

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas mark 4, then butter the sides of the cake tin and line the base with a disc of baking parchment.

Cream the butter until soft in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs to the creamed butter mixture, beating all the time. Next beat in the orange zest and sour cream, then sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in to combine.

Tip the mixture into the prepared cake tin, then bake for 40–50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is cooking, make the glaze. Place the orange juice and marmalade in a saucepan. About 5 minutes before the cake has finished cooking, place the pan on the hob and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the marmalade. Then remove from the heat.

When the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven and let it sit in the tin for just 5 minutes. Loosening around the edges using a small, sharp knife, carefully remove the cake from the tin, peeling away the baking parchment, then transfer to a serving plate.

Straight away pour the marmalade glaze over the cake (after reheating it if it has had a chance to cool down), then allow the cake to cool down fully while soaking up the syrup.

Sometimes we need a cake quickly. It could be a last-minute panic or when there is simply too much else to fit into the day to dedicate two hours to cake making. These fast recipes are for times like that. People often assume that if you have made a cake it has taken hours of work and you must be a genius, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Making a cake can take minutes rather than hours. Some of these faster cakes are made in the food processor, some are quite simple and some are not iced, but none of them take long to make. These cakes are not about delicate sugar craft or laborious preparation, they are smart recipes that make great-tasting cakes without cutting any corners.

02/ Fast

Muscovado Madeira cake

Winter breakfast muffins

Macadamia nut and lemon cakes

Lemongrass coconut cake

Fast cinnamon yoghurt cake

Raspberry and blueberry friands

Marzipan cake

Marzipan

Apple, oat and pecan bars

Raspberry and coconut squares

Crunchy peanut butter banana muffins

Upside-down peach and saffron cake

Muscovado Madeira cake

This classic English cake got its name from the sweet Madeira wine that it was traditionally served with back in the eighteenth century. Nowadays it’s more often eaten with tea, although if you do have a bottle of Madeira or dessert wine, it would go perfectly with either of those. This version is flavoured with the deep molasses sweetness of muscovado (soft brown) sugar. It’s a versatile recipe and you could include a handful of glace cherries, the finely grated zest of an orange or even a teaspoon of ground cinnamon if you like, adding these at the same time as the flour. ( See also the additional variations.)

Prep time: 10 minutes

Baking time: 40–45 minutes

Ready in: 1 hour 15 minutes

Serves: 6–8

175g (6oz) butter, softened

175g (6oz) dark soft brown sugar

5 eggs

275g (10oz) self-raising flour

900g (2lb) loaf tin

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas mark 4, then line the base and sides of the loaf tin with baking parchment, with the paper coming above the sides of the tin to enable the cake to be lifted out easily.

Cream the butter until soft in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl for just a few seconds until mixed, then gradually add them to the creamed butter mixture, beating all the time. Sift in the flour and fold in gently to combine. Tip the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40–45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Carefully lift the cake out of the tin using the baking parchment, then peel away the paper and leave on a wire rack to finish cooling down.

Lemon Madeira cake

Make the cake as above, substituting caster sugar for the brown sugar and adding the finely grated zest of 1 lemon to the mixture with the eggs.

Coffee Madeira cake

Replace the brown sugar with caster sugar and mix in 3 tablespoons of coffee essence (Camp or Irel) with the eggs before adding to the batter.

Tip If any of this cake is left over, you could use it for making Cake pops.

Winter breakfast muffins

A hint of spice and a little ginger is sometimes all I need to perk me up on a frosty winter’s morning. Well, that and ten minutes standing by the Aga with a big cup of coffee! I like the plump juiciness of sultanas, but if you’d prefer you could use currants or raisins instead.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 30 minutes

Ready in: 1 hour 15 minutes

Makes: 12 muffins

300g (11oz) plain flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp salt

2 tsp mixed spice

100g (3½oz) caster sugar

125g (4½oz) butter, cut into 1cm (½in) cubes

2 eggs

175ml (6fl oz) buttermilk

100g (3½oz) golden syrup

25g (1oz) stem ginger in syrup (drained weight), finely chopped

50g (2oz) sultanas

12-cup muffin tray and 12 muffin cases

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas mark 4, and line the muffin tray with the paper cases.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spice into a large bowl, then add the sugar and mix together. Add the butter and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and golden syrup. Tip this into the flour mixture along with the chopped stem ginger and the sultanas, and beat until well mixed.

Divide the batter between the muffin cases, filling each about three-quarters full.

Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes or until well risen and springy to the touch. Allow the muffins to cool for about 5 minutes before removing them from the tin and placing on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Tip If you like, you could use some of the syrup from the stem-ginger jar to brush over the top of the muffins after they come out of the oven.

Macadamia nut and lemon cakes

This quick recipe uses a food processor to whiz up macadamia nuts before incorporating them into a lemon sponge mixture. The sharpness of the lemon contrasts so well with the rich and buttery nuts. If you can’t get hold of macadamias, you can replace them with ready-ground almonds for an even speedier cake, as the almonds won’t need whizzing in the food processor.