Ingredients
6 medium eggs
340g/12oz self-raising flour
340g/12oz butter
340g/12oz caster sugar
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Lightly butter and line the base of an 18cm/7in cake tin with greaseproof paper.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and pale in colour and then gradually beat in the eggs.
4. Sift the flour and fold into the mixture, a little at a time. Pour into the cake tin, level off the mixture with a palette knife and bake for about 90 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Ingredients
85g/3oz light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp black treacle
grated zest of ½ lemon and ½ orange
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground allspice
pinch of ground nutmeg
95g/3½oz butter, cut into cubes
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
225g/8oz plain flour
milk if necessary
assorted cutters
Method
1. Grease several baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. In a large pan, gently heat the sugar, syrup, treacle, lemon and orange zest, spices and a tablespoon of water. Stir well and bring to boiling point.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter and bicarbonate of soda. Stir in the flour until you have a manageable dough. Add a dash of milk if it seems too stiff, or a little more flour it too wet. Remove the dough from the pan, wrap in foil and leave to cool for about an hour.
3. Roll out the dough on a floured board to about 3mm/1/8 in thick. Cut out shapes with cutters; transfer to the baking sheets, leaving room for spreading. Cook for ten minutes until firm. Leave for about a minute, then transfer to a rack to cool.
Ingredients
140g/5oz butter, softened
280g/10oz icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
a few drops food colouring
Method
1. Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
2. Then add the remaining icing sugar with one tablespoon of the milk.
3. Beat until creamy then add the food colouring and mix well.
4. Add extra icing sugar to thicken or a little extra milk to make more runny if necessary.
Ingredients
675g/1½lb icing sugar
3 free-range egg whites
3 tsp lemon juice
1½ tsp glycerine
extra egg white to thin icing if required
Method
1. Sieve the icing sugar.
2. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until they become frothy.
3. Add the icing sugar to the egg whites, a spoonful at a time, and fold in.
4. Add the lemon juice and glycerine and stir.
5. Beat the icing until it is very stiff and white and stands up in peaks.
6. Spread over the top and sides of the cake and rough up the icing with a spatula so that it forms peaks. (If you want a smooth icing you may need to thin the icing down a little with more egg white and use to ice the sides and top of the cake using a palette knife.)
7. Transfer to a cake tin and seal up until ready for use.
Free from: nuts, dairy, soya and eggs
Ingredients
500g/1lb 2oz icing sugar, sifted
2 lemons, juice only
3-4 tsp glycerine (available from most supermarkets and chemists)
Method
1. Put the icing sugar in the bowl of a mixer.
2. Gradually add the lemon juice and the glycerine, beating continually, until the texture and the flavour are as you want them.
3. To ice the cake, spread a thin layer of a jam of your choice over the cake.
4. Roll out the marzipan (using icing sugar to stop it sticking to the rolling pin) and lift it onto the cake. Patch as needed and, if necessary, just take pieces of the marzipan and press it out on the cake.
5. Use a spatula to spread the royal icing over the marzipan, and a fork to 'fluff' it up so that it looks snow-like - then decorate.
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