Snacks, puddings and party food

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer pierced into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the tin, cool. Mix the topping ingredients and cover the cake.

Tip

For a bigger cake, bake two and sandwich them together with extra topping before covering the outside.

To decorate

For a birthday cake try these fun decoration ideas:

Chocolate sprinkles Use a large bar of dark or white chocolate. Place in the fridge and, when it’s chilled, use a peeler to shave off curls and sprinkle all over the topping.

Edible flowers Use roses, primroses, violets or pansies — a good greengrocer can get hold of these. In a small bowl whisk an egg white until frothy and cover a small plate with caster sugar. Gently dip the flowers into the egg white then the sugar. Leave to set for an hour then arrange on the topping. Make in advance, if liked; they’ll keep for up to a week in a cool, dark place.

Fruits, nuts and herbs Try peach slices, redcurrants, blueberries, raspberries and mint arranged on the topping. Or toast a large handful of mixed nuts — pecans, walnuts, macadamia — in the oven with 2 tablespoons of honey. When cool, pulse them in the processor or chop finely by hand, then sprinkle over the topping.

POWER-PACK CEREAL BARS

Makes 24

175g unsalted butter

150g honey

75g pear-and-apricot spread, or prune spread

175g raw demerara sugar

250g organic jumbo oats

75g pecan-nut halves

75g sultanas

75g dried dates

75g dried apricots

30g pumpkin seeds

25g sunflower seeds

25g pistachios

25g Good Seed (available from Sainsbury’s and Waitrose)

25g linseeds

50g ground almonds

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas 5 and line a 23cm square baking tin with greased baking parchment.

In a large saucepan melt the butter, then add the honey, the spread of your choice and sugar, and stir until they are all dissolved. Bring the mixture to the boil for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sugar caramelises to form a really sticky sauce.

Add all the other ingredients, mix together well and pour into your cake

tin. Pat everything down so it’s nice and firm, then place in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the edges go golden.

Leave to cool, then tip it out and slice into cereal bars.

FRUIT FONDUE

Serves 6 children

For the fondue:

200ml natural yoghurt, or soya yoghurt

50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

2 tbsp cocoa

3 tsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla essence

For dipping:

Banana slices

Raspberries

Peach slices

Mango slices

Papaya slices

Pineapple chunks

Very slowly and gently warm the yoghurt in a small pan, taking care not to heat it too quickly as this can cause the yoghurt to separate. Add the chocolate and stir until it has melted and blended in, then add the cocoa, maple syrup and vanilla essence. Gently stir the mixture until it is silky-smooth.

To serve, pour the fondue into a bowl and place on a platter, along with the fruits on cocktail sticks, for dipping.

Tip

Have plenty of napkins at the ready to wipe enthusiastic dippers.

PINK LEMONADE

Makes 1 litre

1 lemon

200g raspberries

50ml water

1l sparkling water

4 tbsp apple, or pear, concentrate (available from healthfood stores)

Put the lemon, raspberries and water into a liquidiser and blitz. Mix the sparkling water and concentrate in a jug. Pour the lemon and rasperry mix through a sieve straight into the jug and stir.

CARROT, HONEY AND SESAME PARTY DIP

Serves 6 to 8 children

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp poppy seeds

4 large carrots, peeled, halved lengthways

To serve:

Toasted pitta bread

Vegetable batons of your choice

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas 7. In a large bowl mix the honey, oils and seeds. Parboil the carrots for 5 minutes, drain. Add to the bowl. Stir to coat, tip on to a baking tray and roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Mash and serve with pitta and batons.

BANANA ICE-CREAM

This is the quickest and simplest ice-cream ever. To freeze the bananas for this recipe, simply peel them, then pop them in a freezer bag and into the freezer.

2 frozen bananas (allow one per person)

400ml natural yoghurt, or soya yoghurt

Allow the bananas to thaw for 5 minutes at room temperature, then put them into a liquidiser, blender, or jug if you are using a stick blender.

Pour the yoghurt over the top and blitz until smoothish (there will be the odd lump, but this is part of the pleasure). Indulge immediately.

KIWI AND PINEAPPLE SORBET

250g grape juice

1 small pineapple, skinned, cored and chopped

4 kiwi fruits, peeled and chopped

2 tbsp Good Oil (hemp seed oil, available from supermarkets), optional

Purée the ingredients in a blender, place in the freezer and stir every 30 minutes for 2 hours. This breaks down the ice crystals, making the sorbet light and smooth.

Tip

If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, plastic of metal food-storage containers are ideal for making frozen desserts in.