Sarah Venning’s recipes

Pre-heat oven to 220°C

500g plain flour
1tsp salt
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
4.5 tsp cream of tartar
50g cold unsalted butter, diced
25g Trex in teaspooned lumps
300ml milk
1 egg beaten for egg wash
75g sultanas or cherries

Sift flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar. Rub in fats. Add all milk at once, mix briefly, then turn out and knead to form dough.
Roll out to 3cm thickness. Cut out scones. Brush tops with egg wash.
Bake for 10 minutes or until risen and golden.

Butter
cocoa
icing sugar
1tsp golden syrup
drop vanilla essence

I’m going to try this for Edward’s birthday lunch. Possibly it’ll flatten us all, but hey ho…

125g v soft unsalted butter
4 eggs separated
30g plus 1 teaspoon caster sugar
100g plain flour
25g cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
zest of 1 lemon
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
150ml double or whipping cream
150g lemon curd

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. Line and butter two 21cm sandwich tins.

Mix the egg yolks, 100g sugar, butter, flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarb and lemon zest in a processor. Add the lemon juice and milk and whizz again.

Divide the mixture between the prepared tins - spread until smooth.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until peaks form then slowly whisk in 200g of sugar. Divide the mixture between the two tins, spreading the meringue mixture straight on top of the cake batter. Smooth one flat with a metal spatula and peak the other one using the back of a spoon. Sprinkly one teaspoon of sugar over the peaks. Put into the oven for 20-25 minutes.

With a cake tester, pierce the cake that has the flat meringue topping to check it’s cooked all the way through. Remove both cakes to a wire rack and let cool completely in the tins.

Unmould the flat-topped cake onto a cake plate, meringue side down. Whisk the double cream until thick but not stiff then set aside. Spread the flat sponge surface of the first cake with the lemon curd, then spatula over the cream and top with the remaining cake.

Use Delia’s recipe for Rich Fruit Cake http://www.deliaonline.com/cookery-school/how-to/how-to-make-a-christmas-cake,17,AR.html but add 1 dessertspoon of grated fresh ginger: makes it more moist

1.5 cups white sugar
1.5 cups oil (sunflower)
4 eggs
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
0.5tsp salt
0.5tsp nutmeg
0.5tsp cloves
4tsp cinnamon
3.5 cups grated carrot

Whizz all in blender. 1 hour at 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 or less. NB this rose far too much for me so I will halve the raising agents next time

Carrot cake icing
4oz cream cheese
1tsp vanilla
Icing sugar

3.5 large grated carrots
0.25lb (just over 100g) margarine or butter
4 tbspn honey
2oz/60g brown sugar
1tbsp molasses
2oz sesame seeds (or finely chopped pecans)
2oz carob flour
4oz wholewheat flour
2oz white flour
3tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp each mixed ground spice, nutmeg, ginger, cloves
2tsp cinnamon

 Sift all dry ingredients together. Heat the sugar, honey, margarine and molasses and add the melted mixture to the flour bit by bit. Mix the carrot and the eggs in a smaller bowl and add last with the vanilla. Cook at 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 for an hour. NB best substituting plain white flour for all the fancy stuff

Feeds 6. Takes 1 hour 20 minutes. This cake-like banana bread will stay moist for days. Serve thickly sliced with a dusting of icing sugar, or wrap in foil and warm gently in the oven before slicing and serving with fresh banana for breakfast.

125g butter
175g unrefined soft brown sugar
2 eggs
280g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
125 ml milk
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g walnuts, chopped I don’t like walnuts so have replaced these with both choc chips and chopped dates, both fab.

 Heat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Lightly oil a 25cm x 11 cm loaf tin. Cream butter and sugar together in a processor until smooth. Add one egg and beat well, add the second and continue to beat well. Sift in half the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well. Mix in the milk then the remaining flour. Mash the bananas and then fold them into the mixture with the vanilla extract and walnuts. Then tip the mixture into the loaf tin and level the top with a spatula. Bake for around 1 hour [took 1h25 in our oven] until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean and not sticky. Cover the top with foil if it starts to brown too quickly.

Allow to cool in the tin for at least 20 mins before turning out.

250g butter
250g caster sugar
4 eggs
1tbsp orange zest
250g self-raising flour
90ml fresh orange juice

Icing
25ml orange juice
125g icing sugar

Cream butter and sugar until v. pale. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add zest. Add flour all at once and beat well. Slowly add the orange juice. Pour into 22cm cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin on wire rack then gently remove sides of tin. Let icing drip down sides of cake.

450g ricotta
Pinch salt
1tbsp plain flour
100g soft brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1tsp grated orange zest
25g raisins
25g candied orange peel
0.5tsp cinnamon
2tbsp icing sugarPreheat oven to 190°C/Gas 5. Grease a 20cm round, loose-bottomed cake tin. Mix ricotta, salt , flour, brown sugar, egg yolks and orange zest. Mix in the raisings and candied orange peel. Whisk egg whites until stiff but not dry and fold into mixture with metal spoon. Pour into tin and bake for 40 minutes until firm when tested. Remove from oven, cool. Sprinkle with cinnamon and icing sugar before serving.

Preheat oven to 160°C/Gas 3. Grease and line 20cm tin.

170g soft butter
170g caster sugar
3 large eggs
170g self-raising flour
1tsp vanilla essence

Cream sugar, butter and vanilla essence. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in flour and any extras below. If mixture very stiff, add 1tbsp milk to slacken.

Bake for an hour until well risen and golden brown.

Good things to add:

• couple of peeled, finely sliced apples and 1tsp cinnamon
• a peeled, chopped pear and 2tsp ginger
• couple of sticks of forced rhubarb, chopped, and a handful of chopped dates
• substitute half the sugar with an equal weight of good quality jam or marmalade