AMAZING CAKES RECIPES

Steps:

• Lemon Cake Pre-heat the oven. Rub some butter around the inside of a 1kg/2lb loaf tin or insert a baking liner. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl, stir to combine and set aside. Chop the butter into small cubes. Put the butter cubes into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. Finely grate the lemon rind, add it to the bowl and beat it in. Beat the eggs one at a time, into the mixing bowl ensuring each is well incorporated before adding the next. Sieve the prepared flour to the mixing bowl followed by the milk and stir to combine. Tip the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes until cooked. Leave the cake in its tin. Lemon Syrup Squeeze the lemon juice into a jug, add more lemon or water, if necessary, to make 75ml liquid. Pour this into a saucepan, add the sugar and bring to the boil shaking the pan occasionally. Simmer gently for 2 minutes to make a syrup. Prick all over the surface of the warm cake with a BBQ stick or skewer, pressing right through to the base of the cake. Pour the syrup slowly all over the surface of the cake and leave to cool in the tin. Lemon Drizzle Icing Place a chopping board over the cold cake tin and invert it onto the board. Using a zester, peel some strands of zest from the lemon and set these aside. Squeeze the lemon juice. Measure the sugar into a bowl, add the lemon juice and stir to make the drizzle. Pour the drizzle over the top of the cake and spread it around the sides of the cake with a knife. Scatter the prepared strands of lemon zest over the cake. Leave to set before serving.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6.
  2. Start by making the Royal pasta dough. While it rests, make the filling.
  3. Trim and quarter the radicchio, peel the onion and slice into eighths, then place in a small roasting tray. Pour over the balsamic and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, toss to coat, then strip over half the thyme leaves, reserving any pretty tips.
  4. Cover with a sheet of wet scrunched-up greaseproof paper and roast for 1 hour.
  5. Prick the potatoes and dry-roast in a separate tray alongside until cooked through, then remove. Once cool enough to handle, scoop the potatoes out of their skins and mash the insides in a bowl.
  6. Finely chop the radicchio and onion, then stir into the potato with 1 tablespoon of the balsamic juices from the tray. Finely grate in most of the Parmesan and all the fontina, mix well, then season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper. Leave to cool completely.
  7. On a clean flour-dusted surface, roll out the pasta dough so it’s 1mm thick and roughly 16cm wide (the width of a standard pasta machine).
  8. Spoon heaped teaspoons of filling evenly down the pasta strips, slightly off centre, leaving a 5cm gap between each. Brush the exposed pasta lightly with water and fold the sheets in half over the filling.
  9. Gently seal around the filling, pushing out the air – you can cut them into 8cm circles with a pastry cutter or into squares with a knife. Place them on a semolina-dusted tray as you go – you’ll get about 18 ravioli in total.
  10. Toast the hazelnuts in a large frying pan on a medium heat until golden, then lightly bash and tip into a bowl.
  11. Cook the ravioli two portions at a time in a pan of boiling salted water for 3 to 4 minutes.
  12. Meanwhile, place the frying pan back on a low heat and add a splash of olive oil, a third of the butter, and a third of the remaining thyme leaves and tips. Fry until golden, then remove from the heat.
  13. Scoop the pasta straight into the buttery sauce, bringing some starchy cooking water with it, add a fine grating of Parmesan, toss gently, then spoon on to warmed plates.
  14. Finish each portion with a scattering of hazelnuts, a little extra virgin olive oil, some extra Parmesan and a few small drips of the balsamic juices, if you like. Serve up to your first lucky guests, while you crack on with the next two portions.