Classic bakes from Jane’s Patisserie

Food writer Jane Dunn, famed for her hugely popular blog, Jane’s Patisserie, is back with a new recipe collection of absolute classic bakes.

Dunn’s latest recipe collection – which features her cheese, bacon and leek scones – is Jane’s Patisserie: Classic. Packed with “core baking and delicious treats”, there’s retro recipes such as black forest gateau that have leapt straight out of childhood memories from the Eighties and Nineties, homemade versions of supermarket staples, like checkerboard Battenberg cake and Jammy Dodgers, alongside some very on-brand ‘Jane’s Patisserie’ crazy baking mashups, including a brownie tart, cinnamon roll blondies and cookienuts (cookie doughnuts).

Salted pretzel brownies

Ingredients

(serves 8)

200g dark chocolate

200g unsalted butter or baking spread

4 eggs

275g soft light brown sugar

100g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

100g salted pretzels (roughly 72 smaller pretzels)

150g caramel sauce

Sea salt, for sprinkling

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan and line a 23cm (9in) square cake tin with parchment paper.

2. Melt the dark chocolate and butter together in a bowl in the microwave in short bursts, or in a pan over a low heat, then leave to cool for 10 minutes.

3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together for a few minutes until doubled in volume and mousse-like. Fold through the melted chocolate mix, followed by the flour and cocoa powder.

4. Layer pretzels on the bottom of the cake tin and carefully pour over the brownie mix. Swirl through the caramel sauce and sprinkle over some salt. Add a second layer of pretzels on top. Bake for 25–30 minutes until there is a slight wobble in the middle, then leave to cool fully in the tin.

5. Set the brownies in the fridge for a couple of hours for a super-fudgy texture.

Notes:

• I use the small crunchy pretzels that you can find in the snack/crisp aisle at the supermarket – the amount you need may vary depending on the size of the pretzel.

• You can add chocolate chips to the brownies if you want even more chocolate.

• You can air-fry half of this recipe in an 18cm square tin for 14–16 minutes at 160ºC.

Tiramisu layer cake

Ingredients

(Serves 15+)

400g unsalted butter or baking spread, at room temperature

400g soft light brown sugar

400g self-raising flour

7 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

For the syrup

100ml water

100g soft light brown sugar

2tbsp instant coffee

75ml Kahlúa

For the frosting

200g unsalted butter, at room temperature

200g icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp instant coffee, dissolved and cooled

400g full-fat soft cheese

1tsp cocoa powder

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan and line three 20cm round cake tins with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until combined. Add the flour, eggs and vanilla extract to the bowl and beat again. Split the mixture between the three tins and bake for 30–35 minutes.

3. For the syrup: While the cakes bake, add the water, sugar, instant coffee and Kahlúa to a pan. Heat over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Soak into the baked cakes once they are out of the oven and leave them to cool fully in the tins.

4. For the frosting: Beat the butter in a large bowl on its own for a couple of minutes until smooth. Add the icing sugar, vanilla extract and cooled coffee and mix again until smooth. Add the soft cheese, and beat in fully. Layer the sponges with the frosting, until you reach the top layer – I like to pipe mine onto the top, but you can swirl it over and sprinkle it with cocoa powder.

Notes

• You can make this alcohol-free by leaving out the coffee liqueur and replacing it with more instant coffee dissolved in water, or just more water.

Battenberg cake

Ingredients

(Serves 8)

250g unsalted butter or baking spread, at room temperature

250g caster sugar

4 eggs

175g self-raising flour

75g ground almonds

1tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla or almond extract

Pink food colouring

For the decoration

100g apricot jam

400g marzipan

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan and grab a 23cm (9in) square tin. Make a foil division in the middle of the tin, then line both halves with parchment paper so you get two rectangles.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and extract of choice and mix.

3. Split into two, and colour one half pink. Pour each into a half of the tin and bake for 30–40 minutes. Leave to cool fully in the tin.

4. Once cooled, cut each cake in half lengthways. Sandwich the cake slices together with apricot jam. Cover with more apricot jam and then completely cover with the marzipan. Serve with the join underneath the cake.

Notes:

• You can flavour the coloured sponges as you like, such as lemon for the yellow and raspberry for the pink, if you have the flavourings available.

• Trim the edges of the sponges so you can fit the layers together neatly.

• You can colour the sponges whatever colours you want to suit a theme.

• One good top tip: you can use two 900g loaf tins instead to make it easier – the bake time for these is 28–32 minutes.