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christmas

Christmas: A piece of cake

When a domestic goddess like Nigella Lawson claims that she can't survive her children's birthdays without her, you know Jane Asher must be good.

Now the actress-turned-cake-decorating-guru is back with a new book devoted to her favourite art form.

Cakes For Fun is a collection of more than 40 fabulous ideas for turning celebration cakes into true party pieces - and whether your tastes are simple, sophisticated or saucy, Jane has the perfect cake for you.

Her own interest in transforming cakes from boring to breathtaking began early on.

"It's one of those hobbies I started as a child. I'm not really sure why - partly it was because my mother wasn't a great decorator and I suppose I took over decorating cakes in our family," she says.

And while the creations in Cakes For Fun look like works of art, Jane insists that the secret of her success is making the process "as easy as possible".

That means using ready-made cake mixes and icing, and letting your imagination run riot with sparkles, sprinkles and other decorative accessories, she says.

"The quality of baking mixes is so good these days and roll-out icing is so easy to use. You still get that glow of smug satisfaction though!"

And once you've mastered the basics, Jane says it's just a short step to developing your own methods - and perhaps even baking a cake from scratch.

If you're bored with traditional fruitcake, why not jazz up the festive season with one of her alternative suggestions?

JANE'S TIPS

:: KNOW YOUR LIMITS: "Don't aim too high. It's better to do something simple and achieve it than to attempt something fancy and fail - that is very disheartening."

:: CUT CORNERS: "Use cake mixes or a ready-made cake. That way you know that at least one part is safe. It takes the panic out of it."

:: USE ROLL-OUT ICING: "It's just like working with Play-Dough."

:: MAKE IT PERSONAL: "Think about what will really please the person you are making the cake for."

:: ADD GLAMOUR: "If in doubt, sprinkle the cake with glitter or sparkles."

:: KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR: "Have a laugh if it all goes wrong. There are far more worrying things in life than a cake going wrong. Life's too short to get upset about it."

:: CHRISTMAS PUDDING CAKE

Simple Version

1 spherical chocolate sponge cake (recipe below*)

1 quantity butter cream (recipe below**)

500g/1lb 2oz chocolate-flavoured roll out icing

50g/1 3/4oz raisins

150g/6oz white roll out icing

20cm/8in round board

ready-made holly sprig

Richer Version

As for simple version but without ready-made holly sprig plus:

extra 50g/2oz white roll-out icing

1 quantity chocolate ganache (recipe below***)

yellow, green and red food colours

holly cutter

Slice each half of the sphere in two horizontally, then sandwich together again with butter cream. Stick the two layered halves together with more butter cream. Spread the remaining butter cream all over the cake in a thin layer. Chill for 30 minutes to firm it up.

Roll out the chocolate icing, and drape it over the cake, smoothing with your hands and trimming the excess around the bottom as necessary.

Put the cake on the cake board and stick the raisins on with a little water. Roll out the white icing and cut a rough shape for the cream. Stick to the top of the cake with a little water and add the holly sprig.

For the richer version:

As steps 1 and 2 above. Then after covering and trimming the chocolate icing, put the cake on to a cooling rack with a sheet of greaseproof paper underneath. Pour over the chocolate ganache, making sure that the cake is completely coated.

Let it cool a little and, once the ganache is sticky, add the raisins.

Colour 150g/5 1/2oz of the white icing pale yellow, roll it out and cut a rough shape for the cream. Stick it to the top of the pudding and smooth down the edges.

Colour approximately 30g/1 1/4oz of the white icing green, roll out and cut out three holly leaves. Stick to the top using a little water. Colour the remaining icing red and roll into five small balls for the berries. Stick them on with a little water.

*ALL-IN-ONE SPONGE CAKE

250g/9oz soft butter or margarine

250g/9oz caster sugar

200g/7oz self-raising flour, sifted

50g/2oz cocoa powder

4 medium eggs

2 level tsp baking powder

spherical cake tin

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/fan oven 160C. Grease and flour the tins. Line the base of the tin with baking parchment as well. Put all the ingredients into a bowl or food processor and mix with a wooden spoon - or process on high speed - for about two minutes, or until smooth. Pour the mixture into the prepared tins (spherical cake tin, baked in two halves) and cook for 50 minutes-1 hour.

**BUTTER CREAM

100g/3 1/2oz butter, softened

1/2tbsp hot water

150g/5 1/2oz icing sugar, sifted

Put the butter into a bowl with the hot water and mix together well. Beat in the sifted icing sugar a little at a time, until the mixture is light and creamy. Store in an airtight container until needed.

***CHOCOLATE GANACHE

450g/1lb plain chocolate buttons

300ml/10fl oz double cream

Put the buttons in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream gently in a saucepan until boiling, and then remove from the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and blended with the cream into a rich, dark mixture. Allow to cool a little, but use while it is still a pouring consistency.

:: CHRISTMAS COOKIE TREE

2 quantities of gingerbread (recipe follows*)

2 quantities of royal icing, coating consistency (recipe follows**)

1 quantity royal icing, for piping (recipe follows**)

green food colour

25g pot of 8mm silver balls or dragees

1 pot of Supercook chocolate beans

1 pot of white iridescent sparkles or Supercook lustre sparkles

1 cookie tree cutter set or card templates

piping bag with adaptor and no.3 nozzle

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 6/200C/fan oven 180C. Grease two trays or line them with baking parchment.

Roll out the gingerbread on a surface lightly dusted with flour. Cut out two of each size star cutter as directed in the set, or cut round two of each size of the card templates. Place them on the lightly greased prepared trays and bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Leave to cool. You'll have to do this in batches, as there'll be 20 cookies.

Colour the coating consistency royal icing green, and then pour or brush it over the top and sides of all the cookies. Allow to dry for about one hour.

Assemble the tree by sticking each layer, using more royal icing, to the top of the previous one. Make sure that the points of the star shapes are placed alternately as shown in the picture.

Pipe icing on to the corners of the cookies and let it drip over the edges. Stick the silver balls and chocolate beans on to the icing. Lastly, sprinkle all over with the white sparkles.

*GINGERBREAD

350g/12oz plain flour

2tsp baking powder

2tsp ground ginger

110g (4oz) firm butter

175g (6oz) light muscovado sugar

3tbsp golden syrup

1 egg

Put the flour, baking powder and ginger into a bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour mix. Rub the butter into the flour mix with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, syrup and egg and mix to form a dough. Put it in a plastic bag and chill for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, cut out as required and bake as directed above.

**ROYAL ICING

1 egg white

1tsp glycerine (available from chemists)

250g/9oz icing sugar, sifted

Put the egg white and glycerine in a bowl and beat lightly with a fork to break it up. Beat in the icing sugar a little at a time until the icing is firm and glossy. This can be used for piping. For coating consistency, add a little water.

:: Cakes For Fun, by Jane Asher, is published by Simon & Schuster UK, priced £10.99. Out now. All equipment and ingredients are available from www.jane-asher.co.uk/020 7584 6177.