Episode 21 Best Bakes Ever

The wonderful smell of bread just out of the oven.

The perfect pie crust.

The snap of a biscuit,

and, of course, cakes.

Cakes of all shapes and sizes...

and for every occasion.

We've got something for all the senses here as we celebrate

some of the Best Bakes Ever.

Coming up, Rachel Khoo with a modern take on a classic -

it's her mini venison Wellington.

My guests are in for a treat.

Raymond Blanc is baking a leg of lamb...

I feel like Picasso!

..and James Martin is teaching us how to make a tartiflette.

For pudding we have a rhubarb crumble from Simon Hopkinson,

a Linzertorte from the Hairy Bikers...

There's some fella sitting there in Bolton saying,

"let's see if that buffoon can roll that one out."

..and Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood's cherry cake masterclass.

How many times have you seen cherries at the bottom of the cake?

-Never.

-Well, you're Mr Perfect.

-You said that, Mary, not me.

But before all that,

something small and light to get us started.

Canape - usually they're eaten with the fingers,

and can get a bit fiddly,

but Lorraine Pascale has found a clever way around that problem.

For me, one of the quickest and easiest things to bake

are Parmesan and poppy seed lollipops.

They're these really cool canapes that are ready in an instant.

Well, almost.

These will be a real feat of baking engineering.

I'm just going to start with 80g of Parmesan,

and then, on almost the finest grater,

just grate it right down

so you've got a nice pile of finely grated cheese.

And I find that this is the only cheese that works really well.

And then seeds, sesame seeds.

Need one teaspoon in a bowl.

And poppy seeds.

Then just add your Parmesan, give it a quick mix.

I just love poppy seeds.

They give it crunch, and the black flecks look really good.

Now, I've got a baking tin here, lined with baking parchment,

and a cookie cutter.

Get the Parmesan mix and sprinkle it on, a very fine layer,

not too thick, and pull it off.

Then take one of these - it's a lollipop stick,

you can get them on the internet, of course.

Pop it into the centre of the circle.

A little bit more Parmesan mix, and that's it.

I'll just get on with the rest.

That's the last one done.

Now, the hardest thing about this recipe is making sure they get

into the oven without bumping them and ruining the circles.

So, these need to cook for about five minutes at 220 degrees.

So, I was thinking, how am I going to serve these lollipops?

And I was watching TV the other day and they had this restaurant scene

and they were serving these prawns on sticks in this Perspex box,

and I thought, that's exactly what I need.

So I got on the internet, had a little search,

couldn't find one anywhere,

so I just bought a box and drilled the holes in myself.

So, I'm just going to take these off the baking parchment,

and push them into the holes.

They should come off easily, but if any get stuck,

I always take my palette knife, it's my secret weapon in baking,

and then just slide it underneath.

You know, I've used Parmesan, sesame and poppy seed,

but you could use Parmesan with paprika

or sprinkle some fresh thyme over the top,

or some sliced nuts.

Just anything, really, to make it your own.

So there you are -

Parmesan and poppy seed lollipops. Easy as you like.

Now let's head to Paris

for a classic dish normally made with beef.

This time it's a mini venison Wellington.

It is a showy dish, easier to make than it looks,

as Rachel Khoo demonstrates.

There's a bit of a debate about beef Wellington.

The French have theirs, the English have theirs. Who cares about that?

I have my version. I'm going to make beautiful mini venison Wellingtons.

Need a big frying pan. Just going to brown my meat.

I'm going to season my venison

with some salt, pepper.

I have two guests coming for dinner tonight,

so I'm making a bit of an effort.

Meat goes in.

You can hear it sizzling away. Really important to brown the meat.

It just caramelises the outside and you just get a richer flavour.

You just want 30 seconds on each side.

Beef Wellington is usually done with one large beef fillet -

however, I think my delicious parcels are more elegant,

and you get more of that flaky pastry.

Just add a generous bit of butter.

I'm going to caramelised some red onions,

which will surround the venison inside its pastry parcel.

They will give a milder and sweeter taste than white onions.

And no need to wash the pan in between.

Get some of that lovely venison flavour with your onions

and you save on washing up.

I'm going to add a pinch of salt.

A pinch of sugar.

Give it a little stir.

And you want to very gently cook them for about 20 minutes.

Just so they are nice and soft and they become caramelised.

This isn't the traditional way to cover the meat.

Usually it is a layer of cooked and seasoned mushrooms

and onions, called duxelles.

But my caramelised onions make a refreshing change.

As you can see, the onions have reduced down,

they're nice and soft.

At this point I'm going to add some Armagnac,

which has this delicious flavour.

And at this point you just want to

cook your onions a little bit further.

If the onions are too wet then your pastry will be soggy

when you come to bake it.

Who wants soggy pastry? Ugh.

The onions are done. Just switch it off.

They go into the blender.

You're just looking for a smooth paste.

Should only take a minute.

That's it, that's done. At this point it's just an assembly job.

Puff pastry. You need some Dijon mustard.

And, of course, your seared venison.

I'm going to brush some mustard on top.

OK. Put the piece of meat on your puff pastry.

Take a heaped tablespoon of the onion mix,

spread it on top.

I've a mixture of eggs and water here.

Run it round the side here,

that's going to make the pastry stick together.

Second piece of pastry.

Then you want to press it down quite firmly.

I've sealed the edges and I'm just going to crimp them.

You don't have to do this

but I think it makes it look a little bit prettier.

There you go.

Looks like a little parcel.

Grab your baking tray.

(Put that on here.)

So, they are almost finished.

Just need to make a little cross at the top,

and that's just so some of the steam releases.

Just going to finish off with a coating of egg wash

to make sure our Wellingtons are golden...

..and that's it.

Goes in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius.

And after about 15 minutes your Wellingtons should be ready.

OK, let's have a look at these.

Wow!

So, they're golden, they're puffy. Doesn't that look delicious?

That golden parcel. My guests are in for a treat.

We'll be moving between British and French dishes

all through this show, and right now

here's a dish whose origin there is surely no doubt about.

Rhubarb crumble.

It's one of my favourite puddings,

especially if it's like this one by Simon Hopkinson.

Thick Guernsey cream, wonderful pink rhubarb,

combine to make a crumble to be proud of.

A nice Pyrex dish, the sort of dish my mother used to use.

And then just slice the rhubarb into short lengths.

It's such an easy thing to make, crumble, it really, really is...

..because it is possible to make a crumble mixture in a food processor,

but the texture made by hand is far superior, always.

Start by cutting some butter

into chunks.

Plain flour, golden caster sugar.

I have not much time for additions such as nuts, chopped up, or oats.

My idea of perfect crumble, which does crumble,

and it does get crunchy, is butter, flour, sugar.

Pinch of salt. End of story.

What happens here when you're making the crumble

is that you can feel when it's right with your fingers

because you don't want the mixture too fine.

That's the death of a crumble,

because it ends up like sort of sweet breadcrumbs.

And you want little lumps of butter remaining in the mixture.

It's still a very nice feeling.

For the lightest crumble mixture, you need to get some air into it.

Before adding the topping,

sprinkle some sugar over the rhubarb,

otherwise it will be too sour.

To make the ultimate crumble, a few tips -

a squeeze of lemon juice intensifies the rhubarb,

also, a few extra lumps of butter to make it sumptuous and rich.

And this should be done in little, shall we call them heaplets?

The last thing you want to do is pat it down,

because as the rhubarb is cooking underneath and it bubbles up,

the crumble topping sinks down a bit.

It's when you get this lovely balance between the two.

I know it's only a crumble,

but this is going to be the best crumble, so...

were going to be very careful.

Extra crunch.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until it's golden on top

and bubbling underneath.

So, to the lovely cream.

Golden top, gorgeous golden Guernsey cream.

I love opening these.

We used to get cream when I was a little boy

from the farm up the road, and in those days it wasn't plastic,

it was a nice little waxed cardboard carton...

..and it was so thick you can do that with it.

It's very clever, that cow from Guernsey,

to produce something so utterly gorgeous.

The Channel Islands' greatest ambassador

has a big taste for grass.

The Guernsey cow is very special.

Its milk has more protein, vitamins and more calcium

than any other dairy cow.

All very healthy - but it's the cream that I'm after.

And the reason why this cow makes the best

is the high content of butterfat that is in its milk.

This is what makes the cream so uniquely thick and luscious.

At the dairy, the milk and cream are separated.

These thick golden folds are, for me, so special.

It really is the only cream for my rhubarb crumble.

For the beauty of the thing,

I'm going to serve it in a beautiful little glass bowl.

Am I going to do what I normally do? I think I am.

Mmm.

Ooh, gosh.

That is very nice indeed.

It smells wonderful, by the way.

That's just perfect. It really is a very nice crumble.

Nice pink juices.

My little hillocks become, sort of, soft sand dunes.

SOFT TAPPING

I think that is a good crumble sound.

That is just how it should be.

Same cream spoon to eat with.

Don't waste any of that.

This is a very fine crumble.

It's very British.

And it's very delicious.

Sometimes words fail me when it's just right, and this is just right.

So, a classic pudding for a Sunday lunch.

To taste it at its best,

serve warm and make plenty, so there is enough for seconds.

This recipe comes from the French Alps.

It's called a tartiflette.

It is not only very easy to make, but very inexpensive, too,

as James Martin tells us.

Now, when it comes to cheap dishes,

you don't get any cheaper than potatoes.

I'm going to use them to make this tartiflette,

a hearty French style cheesy potato bake

that serves 6-8 people for as little as £2.50 a head.

The first thing I'm going to use is these Desiree potatoes.

You can tell them apart because they've got these lovely red skins.

For this one, what I'm going to do is actually par-cook these

for between 8-10 minutes.

Just bring them to the boil and gently simmer them.

Now, while they are cooking we can get on and do our other

part of our tartiflette, which is the onions and thyme.

These get stewed together.

This is a famous dish you get when you go skiing.

I have to confess, I've been skiing once. Snowboarding once.

Never, ever, ever again.

Because I had a massive pile-up at the bottom of the slope.

And I've still got the bruises to prove it.

What we're going to do is take our lovely onions

and just gently cook these in some butter.

This dish is literally all about, sort of, warming you up, really,

I suppose, after you've come off the slopes.

Don't be frightened to use plenty of butter to start this off.

We're going to fry that off with some thyme.

One of the great benefits of growing your own herbs if you can,

and, to be honest, you can do this just on a windowsill, really,

is that you save an absolute fortune.

I always think this should sort of resemble the onions

you get at one of those vans by the side of the road

when you order a burger occasionally and a hot dog.

That's what you're looking for for this, really.

You don't want to add too much colour to it.

And then the other parts of the flavour in this are reblochon...

..and bacon.

Reblochon is a wonderful cheese with a unique flavour

that melts perfectly.

But if you can't get hold of it, brie will do just as well.

But one thing you have to do is just prepare it.

And I'm going to just trim off the top.

Try not to lose too much,

and then very carefully we're just going to trim it off round the edge.

Because what I want it to do is just evenly melt into our potatoes,

and by just taking off the outside of the cheese, you'll get that.

You can leave the underside intact.

This next part is purely optional.

But I actually like to, sort of, almost coat the dish in garlic.

And to do that you basically just rub the dish with the garlic.

Just crushed garlic or chopped garlic like this, and just rub it.

And it's the flavour you get from the dish.

And you can smell it.

It's like you haven't washed the dish, but...

And then, of course, you do need a little bit of butter.

And then what we're going to do is just grab our onions

and then our next layer is really good quality dry-cured bacon.

You can tell really poor quality bacon,

when you pan-fry it you never get it nice and crisp.

That's because mainly it's full of water,

and that's what you are paying for.

So you actually get much better value buying better quality bacon

because a little bit goes much further.

And what I'm going to do is take the bacon like this

and layer it on our onions.

Then with our potatoes, you want to cook these for about ten minutes,

no more, and then it depends whether you've got asbestos hands or not...

You just gently peel them.

I've no idea why you don't peel these beforehand.

It's probably this French dear who taught me how to do this

when I was a young nipper in France.

She must have done this to wind me up,

and I've done it ever since, really.

Once they're all peeled and sliced,

we can lay the potatoes into the dish.

One thing leaving the skins on might do

is make these spuds a little bit more sticky.

They are actually starting to stick together, these, already.

Cook spuds this way and they feel luxurious.

It's like a meal for one, isn't it?

Decent sized portion.

And then what we can do is just grab our reblochon cheese.

Put that on the centre.

A few good knobs of butter, just to help it along its way.

A bit of ground black pepper.

Put the salt on just

over the top like that.

Open the oven door, stick it in the oven,

200 degrees centigrade, 35-40 minutes.

Job done.

As you'll have gathered by now, I'm a great fan of butter.

But it's the cheese that really steals the show.

It is a great melter.

Its unique, nutty flavour permeates the whole dish,

making tartiflette a perfect winter warmer.

Now, for this, I thought I'd carry on the theme

with the tartiflette in there in terms of the bacon

and create a nice little green salad to go with it with crispy bacon.

Chop up any spare bacon you've got left over.

For me, it's best if you fry it until it's nice and crispy.

You can't get much simpler than this salad dressing.

Bind the egg yolk, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard

and some white wine vinegar...

..together with some veg oil.

In this pan, there's so much flavour

and I'm going to use that flavour to create a lovely little dressing.

Bacon fat dressing is simply delicious.

Once you've tried it, trust me, there's no going back.

Now, this is far cheaper than buying ready-made dressings.

Drizzle it over the salad. Lightly coat the leaves.

That's lovely. It's a simple little warm salad,

but tastes so good using that fat from the bacon.

And then, really, all we need now, is the classic tartiflette.

Now, it looks really impressive,

but, remember, this is a dish that doesn't cost a lot of money.

You've just got a bit of bacon,

the cheese is probably the most expensive part of this entire dish.

Not only is this economical, but it feeds loads of people.

If you don't believe me, check out these lot. Come on, crew.

I'm getting in first, because there'll be none left.

A real crowd-pleaser from James, there, and this should be too.

It's a leg of lamb baked in a salt crust

and here to guide you through it is Raymond Blanc.

What I want to do now is bake that leg of lamb

in a salt and egg white crust.

Very beautiful, and a great piece of baking.

To start, sear the lamb in a hot pan to add colour and flavour.

Make sure the lamb is at room temperature before it cooks

to get an even bake.

Voila. Turn it. Voila.

Once seared, leave the lamb to rest for 15 minutes

and prepare the crust by whipping egg whites with salt for one minute.

Oh, that's a lot of salt, isn't it?

When cooked, it will harden in the dry heat,

creating a lovely crust around my lamb.

That's it.

Thickly spread the salt crust on a baking tray.

Place the lamb in the middle.

Let's go with the lamb here.

And then completely cover, so that the steam from the meat

will be trapped within to stop it drying out.

I'm going to plaster it with my salt and my egg white mixture.

If you do a roast, the heat is direct.

There's a lot of contraction of the muscles,

whereas baking, the heat is going to permeate with that crust

gentle and it will change the flavour and the texture.

So, make sure there's no hole.

If you have a hole,

you lose, completely, the control of the cooking.

I feel like the Picasso. Not quite. Voila.

It's as simple as that.

OK, all what you have to do now, is bake it in a preheated oven

at 180 degrees, and you cook it for 50 minutes.

Salt is perfect to create the crust.

It doesn't melt, and seasons the meat as it cooks.

The crust serves purely as a cooking aid

and is discarded once the lamb is ready.

Beautiful crusted.

There are two stages of cooking.

The first is baking, then there is the resting time.

The resting is part of the cooking.

The temperature will go up from 40 degrees to 62, 63 degrees

during the resting time,

so the cooking process, effectively, goes on during the resting down.

Now, let's get the lamb. So what I want to do is to really cut it open.

Cutting is important. Just all around to liberate.

Voila.

Then you lift and you have got your beautiful leg of lamb

which has been perfectly baked, then you can...

I have never been the best carver, but I will do my best. Voila.

Look at that. Look at that. Look at that colour.

It is pink right the way through.

You can see the meat is very moist, very luscious,

not tight - and then you've got your sauce.

Served with a continental salsa verde or a traditional mint sauce.

You really have something quite beautiful

and really shows baking at its best.

It is so tender, juicy. You don't need a knife. Just a spoon will do.

Thanks, Raymond.

You can't go wrong with a sticky toffee pudding

and the cook well-known for pub grub, Tom Kerridge,

is giving us a particularly delicious version.

This is my version of sticky toffee pudding,

served with my ultimate toffee sauce.

First thing we're going to do, water and rum.

This will make a lovely boozy base for the puds.

One vanilla pod.

Little tip with vanilla, don't store it in the fridge.

It tends to dry it out.

So it's in with the seeds and stick the pod in, as well,

for an extra whack of flavour.

Then bring the whole lot to the boil.

Next job is to chop some rich, sticky dates.

The dates for this dish are really important.

They give a beautiful kind of sticky toffee

kind of flavour going on.

Everything about this dish kind of comes from the dark side,

so it's got dates, it's got dark, unrefined sugar,

it's got rum, it's got bananas.

It's amazing.

Then just pour the hot rum and vanilla mix over the dates.

What will happen is it's like getting into a warm bath.

They'll sit there and they'll absorb all that lovely flavour.

Whilst they do their thing, get the pudding batter together.

It's just 150g of plain flour

and two teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda for a lift.

And just going to give that a quick sieve, get some air into it.

Then it's just sugar.

I love using soft dark brown sugar.

It's that real unrefined kind of flavour that comes from it.

Smells really bitter, but when you cook it, it goes really rich,

almost toffee like, instantly.

And softened butter, creamed together until light and fluffy.

Then I'm going to add three eggs one by one.

If you chuck them all in at once, your mix might split.

Then just tip in the flour and bicarb.

Turn the machine back on very, very gently, though.

If you do it too quickly, you'll get clouds of flour.

I've learned that from experience.

Another quick mix, and it's ready for the boozy dates.

They've taken all that lovely flavour of rum and vanilla

and it smells amazing. Just going to pour it in.

Then we're going to fold it all together.

Then just pour the mix into buttered and floured moulds.

You can do this in one big loaf tin,

but feels just a little bit more special as an individual dessert,

if you have people coming round.

Then it's into a preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

Whilst they're in the oven, we'll have a clean down

and we're going to make the ultimate toffee sauce.

It's well tasty smothered over ice cream or fruit salad,

and it's what makes these sticky date puddings so hard to resist.

It's just 175g of demerara sugar, 170g of butter,

a very generous drizzle of thick black treacle and golden syrup.

This is a not a dessert to hold back on.

Bring to the boil and simmer till they become a dark bubbly caramel -

then it's in with 500ml of double cream.

Give it a whisk and chuck in a good pinch of salt

for a cheeky salted caramel finish.

The sauce is done, and that is proper lush. Puddings are ready.

And to finish it and make it super special,

I'm going to garnish it up with some caramelised banana.

I know this looks fiddly and a bit of a pain,

but I'm telling you,

this will be the ultimate topping to your amazing sticky toffee pudding

and I'm going to layer on sliced bananas

all around the outside.

Give them a generous sprinkle of demerara sugar

and then we grab the best toy of all.

This is a proper plumber's blowtorch.

You can get them from any DIY store.

But don't worry, a kitchen blowtorch or a super hot grill

will get the job done.

Sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and caramelised banana.

Amazing.

Now, a change of scene and we're joining the hairy bikers in Austria.

They're making what, according to the National tourist office there,

is the oldest cake in the world -

it's the Linzertorte.

Austria's third-largest city, Linz, is the capital of Upper Austria.

For centuries, it's been an important trading centre,

due to its position on the banks of the mighty Danube.

And it's this great city which lends its name

to Austria's most venerable torte -

the Linzertorte.

Now it sounds posh, but really, it's just a big jam tart.

Over there, the blue Danube. Linz.

And we've got some bottle,

because under the auspices of the castle that once was,

we are cooking the Linzertorte.

The oldest torte in Austria. It precedes the Sachertorte.

-Some say it's finer.

-Oh, that's controversial, now.

-Indeed.

The Linzertorte is the godfather of all tortes,

its recipe dating back to 1653.

To make this prestigious pastry, simply combine flour,

ground almonds, caster sugar, cinnamon and cold butter.

-There's a lady with a plant, look. Hello.

-Hello.

-Hello.

Now, look...we're kind of nearly there.

It looks very, very similar to breadcrumbs.

Now, you're thinking at this point,

"That is never going to hold together,"

so you do need some liquid.

One single hen's embryo will do the trick.

Beat said egg and add to the mixture.

Thank you.

Stir in using a fork to create a fine crumb,

then allow your friendly neighbourhood Geordie

to work into a ball.

Fantastic. Well floured board.

Ideally, a slab of Carrara marble would be fabulous,

but an upturned tray will suffice.

Now, set about a third of this aside.

This is for the lattice on the top. Ha-hey!

Now, there's some fella sitting there in Bolton going,

"Let's see if that buffoon can roll that one out."

Eee, well, this buffoon doesn't have to,

because this pastry is so short, there's no need to roll.

Just press it into your tin and let the butter do the work.

When you get to a point, what you can do is,

to cover your finger marks, use the back of a spoon.

-You can, Captain pedantic.

-I'm not being pedantic, I'm being hygienic.

-There's a difference.

-These hands have been sterilised.

-A bit like you.

-There's nothing wrong with being sterilised.

It's a good thing to be.

Particularly after three children. It's great.

-How long has it that you've been barren, now?

-Oh, how old was I?

About ten years. About six months after I found out Jane was pregnant.

-That was me.

-Down the vets.

-Down the vets. Bumf.

-Now, the jam.

Now this is a seedy one.

If you've got trouble with your dentures, use the seedless.

It's lovely that, man, look.

It's just like a big butch jam tart, this, with a load of history in it.

Yes, it is.

Now all that remains to be done,

is to make an elaborate latticework for the top,

to give it that complete Linzertorte look.

Cut ten strips of the remaining pastry and lay five across each way,

creating the crucial basketweave affect.

I know you're bored, Kingy, but I'm going as quickly as I can.

All that needs to be done, is to pop this into a preheated oven

at 190 degrees Celsius, or 170 for a fan oven, or gas mark five,

for about 30 minutes until cooked through and golden.

And in the fullness of time, our historic Linzertorte is done

and appears mysteriously on a wall overlooking the Danube.

So, let's let the people of Linz decided about the Linzertorte.

Here we go. It's a big moment.

There you are. Madam, would you like some?

Thank you. Please.

So, a critical analysis, please, in your best English, thank you.

-It's all about the base, isn't it?

-I'm very pleased with the result.

-I'm very pleased with the results, too.

-It's very good.

It is very good.

Here, they're being suspiciously quiet.

Hang on, she's looking positive.

It's better than the one that I had in the restaurant.

You can come again. The rest of you are fired.

Well, I suppose offering the people of Linz a Linzertorte

-was always going to be tricky, Kingy.

-I suppose so.

It's a bit like handing out pork pies in Melton Mowbray, isn't it?

Move on.

Linzertorte is called a cake,

but as the boys said, it's really more of a tart.

Our final recipe, however, is definitely a cake -

a cherry cake, that is.

Mary Berry chose it to be one of her Bake Off technical challenges.

So, Mary, you had the honour of kicking off

the technical challenges this year, and you chose a cherry cake.

-Why did you choose that?

-Because a cherry cake is quite tricky to make.

How many times have you seen cherries at the bottom of the cake?

-Never.

-Well, you're Mr Perfect.

-You said that, Mary, not me.

I'm going to make this cherry cake all in one method, all very easy.

So if you can weigh 200g of cherries.

Glace cherries, I like the red ones.

I can't bear the yellow and green ones.

It's best to quarter them to keep them suspended in the mixture.

-Quarter each one? I'll be here for hours.

-Well, get on and do it.

Come on.

And then I'm going to rinse them, because, as you can see,

the board is very sticky, you're sticky

-and if you don't wash off the syrup, they will sink.

-OK.

Are you going to stand there and watch me

-cut all of these into quarters?

-I am.

-Have you got nothing better to do, Mary?

-I was going to read my book.

There we are. All surplus syrup is gone.

Couldn't you have just washed them whole?

If you wash them as the whole,

there's that pool of syrup in the middle,

and if you chop them up afterwards,

again, you've got that surplus syrup.

And the next thing is, I'm going to toss them in a little flour,

so if you'd be kind enough

to measure me 225g of self-raising flour.

That's absolutely dry now.

I'll take a little bit of that flour away and put that like that

and just toss them in that.

Again, that stops them from sinking in the mixture.

And that's ready.

Now, I'm going to use the all-in-one method,

so if you can put the other ingredients into there...

To the flour, add 175g of softened butter.

You could use a baking spread,

but I like the flavour of the butter for this recipe.

-Oh!

-I think you've done that before.

-Yeah, bang on.

-Absolutely right.

Then add 175g of caster sugar and 50g of ground almonds.

Now, the reason for adding ground almonds,

it makes it very moist

and, again, helps to suspend the actual cherries.

-Anything else?

-Yes, a zest of a lemon.

There's some lemons over there.

And, lastly, three eggs in there. Three large eggs.

-Whole eggs?

-Whole eggs. So it's the all...

Oh, look at him doing with one hand and none down the side.

It doesn't matter, does it, really?

-It did come down the side, didn't it?

-No! Well, a little bit.

Do you know, when I'm doing it with children, I put a plate under it.

Are you insinuating you're working with children?

No, I said if I'm making it with children, you put a plate underneath

and then if they are a bit nervous cracking and it drips down the side,

it goes onto a plate and then you can put it back into the mixture.

-Really?

-OK.

Have you noticed the only thing I haven't put in here,

is the cherries.

If I put the cherries in at this stage, what would happen is they

would all get mashed up, so everything in there,

except for the cherries.

And expect this to be a rather stiffer mixture

than a Victoria sandwich, because we have used more dry ingredients.

That's perfect.

Just make sure that, that is the lovely, even mixture.

-Now, I add the cherries.

-OK.

-All in. Beautifully quartered, I might say.

-Fold that in.

-You have some nice decent pieces of cherry.

Spoon the mixture into a greased 23cm ring mould.

Level that over, because it's quite a stiff mixture

and it won't take its own level.

So, there we are, ready to go into the open.

-That will go in at 160 fan.

-OK.

Using a ring mould means the cake bakes quicker,

as the heat gets into the centre.

So, that took about 35 minutes.

It's well-risen, and a nice pale golden brown

and it's been out about ten minutes,

so it's shrinking away from the sides.

So, turn that upside down like that.

-Beautiful.

-The cherries are evenly distributed all the way round.

Now, that needs to get cold before we put the icing on.

For the icing, you'll need 175g of icing sugar and a juice of a lemon.

So, mixing the juice with the icing sugar,

it is best to be cautious, so hold some back.

It's pretty good.

It wants to be a thick consistency that will drizzle down the side.

-I think maybe...

-I think that's all right.

-OK.

I've got to toast some almonds to go on the top.

-Wait a minute, I'll get that off.

-Don't worry, I am being careful.

You wouldn't know it was there.

I told you the consistency was perfect.

If that was any wetter, it would've stuck on the shirt.

I know you can buy them toasted,

but I quite like toasting them myself.

Just moving them round all the time,

until they're a golden colour. Can you do the cherries? Five cherries.

I daren't say cut them into eighths, but about that size, if you can.

Eighths? You know you can buy these cut and washed?

-I'd rather you did them freshly for me.

-I bet you do. Five?

-Well...

-Not six, five. You definitely want...

-Up to you, but do as I say.

And those want to be cool ready to do the decoration.

Here we are, so, I'm going to put that on all the way round.

-Let me get some of this out for you.

-Thank you.

Now, when I get it to that stage,

I'm going to just encourage it to go down a bit,

a bit like icicles coming off a roof.

That's it.

And then the almonds, just sprinkle them round informally over the top.

That's beginning to look good...

and then we've got these little jewels here.

How beautifully are they cut up?

Whoever did that, certainly knew what they were doing.

I think we can do with a little bit over here. Am I being too fussy?

Yes, you are, yeah. It's like an artist doesn't know when to stop.

But I love doing this.

I like the absolute finish and that looks great fun.

That's it. A special cake for, perhaps, a celebration occasion.

-My 30th.

-Or my... Don't say.

So easy to cut, because this shape, you get a perfect piece every time.

-Nice amount of cherries in there.

-Evenly distributed.

Bit keen!

I love lemon, lemon icing. I think it's fantastic.

That, with the cherries, it just goes really well

and you need a mug of tea...

Ah! That's how you eat cake.

Sip of tea, bite of cake, sip of tea, bite of cake.

It all just washes down.

-It's pretty good.

-Totally agree. It's delicious.