For most, the extremely thought of baking sends shivers down the spine. Nevertheless a cookie is among the simplest and most enjoyable recipes you can make. If you’re creating a very easy classic Victoria sponge or something more fancy, you could go from creating the cake to ingesting it under 90 minutes!

I’m not really sure why cakes have a reputation for being debilitating. In fact, cakes are exactly what recipes were devised for. You browse the recipe, buy the ingredients prepare the cake according to this recipe and hey presto, you have a cake ready to consume.

Maybe part of the problem lies in the variability of ovens. Everything in a cake recipe follows a set pattern but ovens may differ from house to house and type to type. A number of the basic recipes we have now were written in the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s where fan-assisited ovens were rare. Because of this, those wanting those recipes from the new ovens found that no matter what they did, the cakes would always burn.

If you’re following an old recipe and you have a fan-assisted oven then turn the warmth of the oven down by 10C lower than the temperature in the oven. Bake for precisely the identical period of time as given in the recipe, but cover the surface of the cake using kitchen foil for the last ten minutes of cooking to prevent the cake from burning. Then you will get ideal results.

Remember also that if you can smell the cake cooking it’s almost done. Even if the recipe says you’ve got another 20 minutes to go always check the cake when you can smell it, even as it may have cooked much quicker than you ever thought.

Below You’ll Find recipes for a timeless, easy Victoria sponge and a slightly more elaborate cake:

Victoria Sponge

Ingredients:
60g butter
60g caster sugar
1 medium egg

Strategy:
Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy then beat-in the egg. Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in using a metal spoon. You’re aiming for a batter of dropping consistency. If it’s a bit too thick add just a little milk.

Hint the batter in a 18cm cake tin that’s been well buttered and lined with baking parchment. Flatten the surface using a spatula then set the cake in a toaster pre-heated to 180C and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of this cake pops suitably.

Take from the oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Death By Chocolate

Ingredients:
175g plain cholocate (4045 percent cocoa solids)
50g 70% coacoa solids coacoa powder
140g butter
4 eggs
210g sugar
60g flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tablespoons thick buttermilk

Strategy:
Pre-heat the oven to 180C then line a 23cm cake tin with greaseproof paper and grease the tin.

Gently fold the chocolate mixture and the buttermilk into the batter and spoon into the cake tin.

Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before removing from the tin. At this point remove the domed top of the cake, then slice the cake through the center to create two layers. For the filling cover at the bottom half of the cake black cherry jam and make a butter icing from butter, sugar and cocoa powder. Twist within the jam, put in the surface and add chocolate frosting, as below.

Produce a frosting by melting 225g of dark chocolate 225g of butter in a bain-marie. Insert about 40ml of liqueur (Kirsch is good) and if molten spread the chocolate over the cake using a knife heated in boiling water.

I am hoping that these recipes show you how simple cakes are to create and how you can have a simple recipe and make something more elaborate from it.