Top 10 cake recipes

There's nowt like a wedge of proper cake, washed down with a decent cuppa. Check out our Top 10 cake recipes - no cupcakes allowed!

Carrot cake recipe

Walnuts or no nuts? Cream cheese frosting or iced glaze? Sticky or crumbly? Everyone has their carrot cake preferences…  Stella McCartney’s recipe (pictured above) is our favourite. Desiccated coconut, orange juice, and cinnamon make for a wonderfully moist and spicy bake, topped with sweet cream cheese.

Chocolate cake recipe

There’s nothing worse than a dry chocolate cake. Nothing. Pam Corbin ensures extreme fudgy moistness by using buttermilk and ground almonds in the batter, then sandwiching the sponge together with two layers of chocolate fudge icing. Droooool.

Orange and almond cake recipe

One of the oldest cake recipes in our collection – renowned cookery writer Claudia Roden published it in 1968, and still today people serve it as dessert. Claudia makes her cake super moist by including pureed whole boiled oranges. “Absolutely gorgeous,” is one of the latest comments for this recipe.

Upside-down cake recipe

Upside-down cakes are brilliant for dinner party desserts, trust me. They’re best eaten fresh out of the oven, and if you turn it out on the dinner table you’re guaranteed an ‘Oooooo!’ from guests. Bill Granger swops pineapple for syrupy bananas in his refreshingly original recipe.

Jumbo jet cake recipe

One for the kids, and adult plane-spotters alike. It’s actually pretty easy to make this beauty – all you need is one loaf cake, one rectangular cake, and a shed load of buttercream. Liquorice whirls make great jets, and Smarties were made to be lights on this jumbo jet cake.

Vanilla plum cake recipe

Peek-a-boo plums, a sugary crust and lots of vanilla make Annabel Langbein’s cake very popular in our office. She suggests baking it for a show-off dessert; you could serve it dusted in icing sugar, and a drizzle of cream on top. Seconds, anyone?

Mojito Genoese cake recipe

A party cake, if ever we did see one. Lorraine Pascale’s flirty, fun bake is a traditional Italian Genoese sponge (very light and buttery in texture) with fresh mint, white rum and lime juice incorporated. Mind you don’t have too many slices if you’re driving…

Swiss roll cake recipe

Because they’re so low in fat, swiss rolls are wonderfully airy and light – so much so that we could easily polish off this lemon version from the Hairy Bikers. Remember to turn your sponge out onto your sugared paper very quickly, lest it breaks. Fill with homemade lemon curd.

Victoria Sponge cake recipe

Of course we didn’t forget ol’ Victoria! A proper Victoria sponge made correctly is extremely hard to beat – it’s a timeless recipe, which makes perfect sense. Edd Kimber shows us how to make our sponge as light and fluffy as possible (some say you should sieve the flour three times).

Chocolate torte recipe

“Just delicious”, “amazing”, and “beautiful crust” are a few of the complimentary comments on this recipe by Fay Ripley, who makes her torte only from butter, dark chocolate, eggs, and sugar. Plus a little cocoa powder to dust. Try it yourself and post a comment!

You might also like

Ssh - it's Clandestine Cake Club

Artist creates British icons in Jaffa Cakes

Building a Star Wars Stormtrooper cake