Cut a slice and dig in. An easy ginger traybake cake that’s sticky, sweet and subtly spiced. A cake mix into cookies tea-time treat for the colder months.

Cakes are best stored in airtight tins rather than plastic boxes. Once a cake has been cut, the cut surfaces will start to dry. Covering them with a piece of aluminium foil minimises the effect. Undecorated cakes can be frozen for up to three months if tightly wrapped.

It’s essential to accurately weigh and measure cake ingredients and to follow the instructions carefully. The ingredients need to be at the correct temperature before you start. For example, many cake recipes specify soft, chilled or frozen butter, and eggs at room temperature, in order to achieve a specific effect. Where caster sugar is specified, coarser granulated sugar or fine icing sugar are not acceptable substitutes as they’ll create detrimental effects, such as a speckled finish or failure to hold air bubbles in the batter. Darker sugars such as unrefined molasses sugar or muscovado are great for baking but will give a darker colour, deeper flavour and moister texture than caster sugar, so need to be used in their appropriate recipes. Similarly, with flour, don’t try to use strong bread flour in place of plain or self-raising flour because its gluten level is much higher.

This will result in an uneven rise and a tough cake. You can, however, substitute plain flour for self-raising by adding sufficient raising agents. Is there any of that lemon cake left? I adore chocolate cake, ” said Susannah, smacking her lips. Learn the words you need to communicate with confidence.

I covered her with a blanket to keep her warm. I spread peanut butter on my bread. The chicken was absolutely smothered in butter sauce. His laptop cover was completely plastered with stickers. His shoes were caked in mud. In view of the high cost of traditional supplementary feeds such as oilseed cakes, the production of forage, especially legumes, is increasingly being advocated.