For this baked cheesecake you do need a pumpkin variety with a dry flesh – I like to use sugar pie or red kuri, so would recommend one of these. If the pumpkin is nice and small, cut it open, scoop out the seeds, put it back together and then roast it in the oven for about 1½ hours – this will soften the flesh and lock in the delicious pumpkin flavour. The pumpkin could be roasted a day in advance for ease and speed, then cooled and kept in the fridge overnight, if you like.

I have used ginger nut biscuits for the base, but you could use plain digestive biscuits instead, if you prefer.

I have used the Thermomix for this recipe. Janie Turner from UK Thermomix demonstrated the new TM5 model to me. She made a chopped sweet potato salad and I was amazed with the results (potentially, I never need to use my grater again, so no more grated fingernails!).

I have a glut of pumpkins at the moment and I fancied a bit of cake, so the idea for this recipe came to mind. I thought, aha!, it’s a great time to test my new TM5 chopping techniques. I used the Thermomix to chop the pumpkin, apples and ginger, then I added the rest of the ingredients for the cake batter, whizzed it all together and in a jiffy the job was done – it’s pretty fast and impressive.

If you do not have a Thermomix, you can still make the cake, but you’ll need to use a grater instead (or a food processor with a grater attachment), then mix all the ingredients together in a bowl using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer.

Nonna would lovingly prepare, cook and clean all day long and provide breakfast, lunch and dinner every day without fail. Sunday was the highlight of the week. The house the family lived in was quite large as far as Italian homes go, and in the centre of the home was the spacious kitchen with its high vaulted ceiling. Much of their house, from the front door to the back, contained marble in one form or another, even the 12-seater kitchen table had a marble top. That magnificent table was very handy at the weekend as Sunday was family day.

Nonna would get up at the crack of dawn to go and collect the freshly laid eggs, pick fresh basil and tomatoes and set to work on her most exquisite and lovingly prepared lasagne. Once the fresh pasta was made and carefully rolled by hand into wafer thin sheets, it was then layered together with the silky rich tomato and basil sauce and popped into the oven to bake. Then the torta di riso was prepared.

Nonna used a special red-coloured liquor to flavour the cake and to be honest I can’t remember exactly what it was, so I have adapted the recipe to suit what I have in stock. Nonna baked the torta di riso in a large roasting tin, then cut the cake into squares and served it with gelato that the young ones had brought with them that day.

I have borrowed the recipe and turned it into my version of this special Italian rice cake. It brings back so many wonderful and heart-warming memories for me, demonstrating the true essence of family life. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Anyway, I thought I would give it a go, so I adapted her measurements and got baking and I was super pleased with the results, as they’re delicious. This recipe is very easy to make and quick too. The crumb of the muffins is fine and very moist and they taste just as good the following day (if they last that long!).

I serve these for breakfast on their own, with just a pot of hot, fresh coffee to accompany, and that’s all you need – they are just the perfect start to the day.

For these cakes, I have used ripe ready-to-eat peaches, but fresh ripe apricots, greengages, damsons, Victoria plums, mangoes, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries would all be fantastic fruit pairings with the poppy seed and yogurt combination.

I made these for afternoon tea, but the following morning Mr P could not keep his hands off them and he devoured one with his morning coffee for breakfast; I suppose it’s never too early for cake though, is it?!

The yogurt and poppy seeds are best combined the day before you want to make these cakes, but it’s not a problem if you don’t have time to do this (see method below for more details on this).

The mixture itself is not complicated to make, and once you have mastered making the nutty brown butter (beurre noisette), the rest is pretty easy. A ‘beurre noisette’ is the French term for ‘brown butter’ (literally ‘hazelnut butter’) – butter that has been cooked until golden or brown; some would even describe it as ‘burnt’.

The next step is what tests my patience. The mixture has to rest and chill for a minimum of 6 hours before use (in fact, it’s best left overnight, if possible). This is the part where I struggle, as I am very impatient and incredibly disorganised at times, so invariably, I forget to make the mixture a day in advance and then get stuck on the day that I was hoping to bake these. Anyway, once I get myself organised and the mixture is made, it’s fantastic because it also lasts well in the fridge (for up to 3 days), so it doesn’t need to be used all at once.

I bake these madeleines in batches (see Cook’s Notes). If you like, you can use different fresh fruits instead of raspberries, such as blueberries, mulberries, loganberries, blackcurrants or blackberries. Or simply use no fruit and bake them plain.

I love this recipe; my grandmother used to bake a lot of cakes using buttermilk and her baking was superb. From what I can remember, she used to make her own butter and the milk deposits (or buttermilk) from making the butter were no good for drinking, but they were perfect for baking. She could never throw anything away and so she regularly used the buttermilk in her baking.

My mother, also a great baker, always makes her own version of buttermilk using a much quicker method, by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice to fresh milk, then letting it sit and curdle for 10 minutes or so. She calls it lazy man’s buttermilk and uses it in her baking too. Well, these two wonderful ladies have got full life experiences behind them and I am not going to argue with them!

The reason I like using buttermilk in my cakes and breads is because it has a natural acidic taste that gives baked goods extra flavour. It’s like adding vanilla to your cakes; vanilla provides flavour. In my opinion, the same can be said about buttermilk; it adds flavour, character and depth.

Apart from the fact that these loaf cakes taste amazing, they also keep well for a few days. The texture remains moist even after a couple of days or so of storing (if they make it that far!).

The rhubarb needs to be poached in advance – keep the syrup from the poached rhubarb and use it to make a delicious drink, such as one of those featured in my Rhubarb and Rose Pressé recipe. For this cake recipe, the rhubarb can be poached conventionally or in a vacuum bag in a water bath (see Cook’s Notes).

Another really good reason why I love this recipe is that it requires very little effort to make. Simply mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and bake. It really is as simple as that! This means you can then put a bit more effort into the decoration, if you like.

I have used blackberry jam and fresh blackberries for the decoration, but the flavour of jam and the fruit you use are entirely your choice (choose fruits in season if you can, for a lovely seasonal touch). Raspberry, strawberry or apricot jam will all work well, but if the season for these fruits has passed, then either you don’t have to use the fruit or simply use what fruit is available. Canned (drained) fruits (like cherries, apricot halves or peach slices) are an alternative option, or you could simply decorate the cake with shavings of dark chocolate, if you prefer.

My mother also cooked pumpkin in the same way. If there were any leftovers (pumpkin or sweet potato mix), she then made fritters the following day and served them sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. See page 375 in my cookbook ‘The British Larder A Cookbook For All Seasons’ for her delicious fritter recipe.

I am always trying to come up with appealing new recipes and ideas and sometimes I just think about how I can put a twist on classic recipes that I love. These sweet potato and coconut cakes are a tasty twist on a classic favourite of mine, carrot cake. I replace the grated carrots with grated raw sweet potatoes, add some coconut (as I like the texture) and, hey presto, here they are!

My grandmother used to make traditional South African tartlets called ‘hertzoggies’, which are sweet pastry-based apricot jam tartlets topped with coconut meringue. Once the meringue topping is added to the tartlets, they are returned to the oven for a few minutes until the meringue becomes crispy on the outside but retains its gooey marshmallow-like centre. The coconut meringue on these sweet potato cakes is exactly the same.

They make a lovely afternoon tea or sweet treat, and they are also good served for dessert with crème fraîche or pouring cream.

The video accompanying this recipe shows the whole process step-by-step, including making the cakes and the meringue topping.

Following a trip to our local farmers’ market, I came home with free-range eggs, strawberries, asparagus, free-range chicken and plenty of other seasonal delights. I was all set to make my chocolate cake for Easter.

This cake is stupendously easy to make! Making the cake batter takes hardly any time at all and you don’t need to do much apart from weighing the ingredients into the mixing bowl (whilst boiling the kettle), then mix, divide and bake. It’s as simple as that!

For that reason, I prepare the strawberries first as they need to be roasted at the same time as the cake is baking. The strawberries are best if they are very ripe, because the flavour is even better, then the strawberries become almost jam-like during roasting and a delicious intense red strawberry syrup forms. Once cooled, half of the roasted strawberries then get blended with the mascarpone to make the frosting (which is delicious but not too sweet).

This cake is a fantastic recipe, even if I say so myself! The oil in the cake batter helps to keep the baked cake moist and it has an almost fudge/truffle-like texture. Delicious!