COLLINS MIXER RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and grease and line 4 x 20cm cake tins. If you don’t have 4, halve the sponge recipe and bake in 2 batches.
• Put the sugar, butter and vanilla paste in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk (or in a table top mixer) until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually, beating between each addition until fully incorporated. Add a tbsp or 2 of flour if the mixture looks like it’s curdling.
• Sift in the flour and baking powder with a tsp of salt and fold into the cake batter. Pour in the milk and beat to loosen the mixture. Scatter over the sprinkles and ripple through the cake batter before dividing between each cake tin. Bake for 25-30 mins until golden and the sponge springs back when you press it lightly. Swap the tins around in the oven after 15 mins to ensure they cook evenly. Cool on wire racks completely before icing.
• Meanwhile, make the icing by beating the butter with half of the icing sugar until combined and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and the rest of the icing sugar, beating again until fully combined. Drizzle over the vanilla paste and beat until incorporated. Put a large round nozzle into a piping bag and spoon in the icing.
• When the cakes have cooled put a blob of icing onto a cake board and sit 1 of the sponges on top. Pipe blobs of vanilla icing in a circle covering the whole base of the sponge, then top with the next sponge. Repeat with all 3 layers, scattering over some extra sprinkles on the top. Serve in slices.

Steps:

• Combine both flours in a large bowl with the yeast and 1 tsp fine salt. Mix the treacle with 250ml warm water until well combined. Stir into the flour to make a slightly sticky dough. If you need to add more water, splash it in 1 tbsp at a time.
• Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 10 mins (or in a tabletop mixer for 5-7 mins). Your dough should be smooth and elastic when it’s ready. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, flip the dough over to coat it in oil, then cover with a sheet of oiled cling film. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size – this will take about 1 hr (see note, below). Lightly oil a 900g loaf tin.
• Once doubled in size, knead the dough again for 3-5 mins to knock out the air bubbles – add most of the seeds and work these into the dough as you knead. Shape the dough into an oval roughly the same length as your tin. Place in the tin and leave to prove, covered with oiled cling film, for 30-45 mins until it has nearly doubled in size again. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
• Gently press a finger into the loaf to check if it has had enough proving time (see tip). When it’s ready, glaze the top of the loaf with the egg yolk and sprinkle over the remaining seeds. Bake in the oven for 40-45 mins until golden brown – if you tip the loaf out of the tin and tap the bottom, it should sound hollow. Leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 mins before slicing.