Ingredients for x servings

1 large onion, thinly sliced
1tbsp olive oil
1 x 1·5kg chicken
2 garlic cloves, chopped
20g (¾oz) flat-leaf parsley
25g (1oz) butter, softened
50g (2oz) bread (2 slices)
Elfe potatoes, to serve
Mixed veg, to serve

zest of an unwaxed lemon

Directions

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 6, 200˚C, fan180˚C. Heat oil and sweat onion and garlic until softened. Decant to a bowl and cool.

Whizz the bread in a food processor with parsley. Add to onion and garlic mix, along with zest, and season. Spoon the stuffing into the chicken neck cavity.

Place in a roasting tray, smother over butter, season, add ½ cup of water and roast for 1hour 20 minutes. To test, insert a skewer into thickest part of thigh. It is cooked through when juices run clear; if not, cook 10 minutes more.

Scatter chicken with some chopped parsley, leave to rest for 10 minutes, then carve. Bubble down juices in pan and serve along with new potatoes and vegetables.

Ingredients for 4 servings

1 small onion, diced
1tbsp olive oil
1½ litres hot vegetable stock
4tbsp pesto sauce
100g (3½oz) frozen garden peas or petit pois
375g (12oz) risotto rice
a little grated Parmesan
few basil leaves, to serve

Directions

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion until softened, but not browned. Add rice and stir until coated with oil.

Gradually add the hot stock, a cupful at a time, stirring, until the liquid has been absorbed. Add the peas just before the end of cooking and heat through.

Just before serving, stir in the pesto sauce and then serve with a few shavings of Parmesan and basil leaves.

Ingredients for 4 servings

½tsp black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1.3kg (2 ½lb) smoked gammon joint

For the glaze:

½ pink grapefruit, zested and squeezed
1 clove garlic, crushed to a paste
15g (½oz) fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
150g (5oz) fine shred orange marmalade
new potatoes (optional)

To serve:

green beans (optional)

Directions

Place the gammon in a large pan, cover with water and add the peppercorns and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, cover partially with a lid and simmer gently for 1 hour 10 minutes.

While the meat cooks, mix together the glaze ingredients in a small pan. Cook over a low heat for a few minutes to melt the marmalade then bring to the boil, turn down slightly and allow to simmer gently for 8-10 minutes. The glaze should become clear and a little thicker (it will thicken even more as it cools).

When the meat is cooked, let it cool a little in the liquid, then remove. Reserve the liquid to use for soups or stock. Using a small sharp knife cut away the skin of the gammon, leaving a layer of fat. Score the fat in a criss-cross pattern and brush over some of the glaze to cover just the fat.

Preheat the oven to gas 7, 220°C, fan 200°C. Put the glazed gammon in a roasting tin and roast for 10 minutes, then add more glaze and return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Leave to cool for a few minutes before carving. Serve with boiled new potatoes, green beans and any extra glaze on the side.

Set aside the leftover meat until cool. Wrap in foil or place in a lidded airtight plastic box and store in the fridge. Use within 2 days.

Ingredients for 4 servings

1 tbsp butter
1 x 100g pack smoked salmon
4 slices bread, such as brioche or sourdough
4 spring onions, washed and thinly sliced
6 eggs
75ml (3fl oz) milk
small bunch fresh chives, chopped

Directions

Crack the eggs into a large jug or mixing bowl. Add the milk and a little seasoning, then whisk until pale yellow – the kids will love helping with this part. Stir in most of the chives.

Melt the butter in a frying pan set over a medium heat. Add the spring onions and fry for 3-4 minutes, until softened.

Turn up the heat slightly and add the beaten egg. Leave it to cook for 20 seconds, then gently mix it with a spatula, or wooden spoon. Cook for another 20 seconds and then mix again. Repeat until cooked through.

Meanwhile, toast the bread and ask the kids to butter it. Cut into triangles and arrange 2 on each plate.

To serve, divide the eggs between the 4 plates. The kids can then top with the smoked salmon and remaining chives.

Ingredients for 12 servings

1tbsp cocoa powder
1tsp almond or vanilla extract
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 large eggs
2tsp black treacle
50g (2oz) butter, plus extra for greasing
65g (2½oz) caster sugar
65g (2½oz) good-quality plain chocolate
75g (3oz) light muscovado sugar
100ml (3½fl oz) full-fat milk, slightly warmed
150g (5oz) plain flour

For the white chocolate icing filling:

50g (2oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
75g (3oz) icing sugar, sifted
125g (4oz) good-quality white chocolate

For the chocolate ganache:

3tbsp clear honey
50g (2oz) unsalted butter
200ml (7fl oz) double cream
200g (7oz) good-quality plain chocolate, finely chopped

For the white chocolate curls:

100g white chocolate

Directions

Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Butter 2 x 20cm (8in) loose-bottomed cake tins and line with nonstick baking paper.

Put the butter and sugars in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder into a separate bowl. Beat the eggs into the butter and sugar mix, one at a time, following each with a spoonful of the flour mixture.

Put the chocolate, treacle and almond or vanilla extract in a medium bowl, set it over a pan of gently simmering water and leave to melt. Remove from the heat when melted and set aside to cool slightly. Then carefully fold into the cake mix.

Fold in the remaining flour, alternating with the warmed milk until smooth. Divide evenly between the two tins, smooth the surfaces of each and then bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle. Turn out onto wire racks and leave to cool completely.

To make the white chocolate icing, put the white chocolate and butter in a large bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Add 2 tablespoons of boiling water and stir gently until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and beat in the icing sugar.

For the white chocolate curls, melt the white chocolate over a pan of gently simmering water. Pour onto a plastic chopping board and spread until it forms an even layer about 5mm thick. Place in the fridge and chill for about 15 minutes, until just set. Then run a vegetable peeler over the surface to make thick curls of chocolate.

Put one cake, bottom side up, onto a large serving platter, top with the white chocolate icing and then put the other cake on top.

To make the chocolate ganache icing, put the double cream in a saucepan and place over a medium heat and bring just to the boil. Remove from the heat and quickly add the butter, honey and the chopped chocolate. Leave to melt for a few minutes and then stir briefly to combine. Leave to cool slightly to allow it to become a little more viscous, and then spread over the top and sides of the cake. Smooth the edges using a palate knife and then decorate with the white chocolate curls.

If you want to store the cake overnight, place it in the fridge. Take the cake out of the fridge an hour before serving to bring it back to room temperature. If the cake is covered it will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days, but the sponge won't be as light and fresh. A cake like this is ideally eaten on the day it is baked. If you have any cake left over on day two, why not heat it up in the microwave and have 'hot' chocolate cake!

Ingredients for 8 servings

1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp white wine vinegar
3 large egg whites
175g caster sugar

Filling:

1 tbsp caster sugar

2 ripe nectarines, stoned and thinly sliced
250g raspberries

300ml double cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 1-2, 130°C, 250°F, fan 110°C. Line a baking sheet with nonstick baking paper and draw a 23cm circle in the centre.

Whisk the egg whites in a grease-free bowl until they form stiff peaks. Add half the caster sugar and whisk again until the mixture is thick and shiny. Mix the cornflour, vanilla and vinegar to a paste and fold into the eggs whites with the remaining sugar.

Pile the meringue into the circle on the baking sheet, making a hollow in centre. Bake for about 1 ¼ -1 ½hours or until pale brown but a little soft in the centre. Leave to cool.

To make the raspberry sauce, mash 100g of the raspberries with the caster sugar, stir until the sugar dissolves. Now push the mixture through a nylon seive to remove the pips. Chill until required.

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks, heap in the centre of the meringue and top with the remaining fruit. Serve within 1 hour of filling.

Ingredients for 8 servings

3 passion fruits, halved
5 eggs, separated
100g (3½oz) caster sugar, plus extra for rolling
100g (3½oz) ground almonds
150g (5oz) white chocolate
150ml (¼pt) crème fraîche
icing sugar, to dust
white chocolate curls, to serve

Directions

First, make the ganache filling. Gently melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir the melted chocolate into the crème fraîche, adding the pulp from 1½ passionfruit. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight, to firm up.

Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C and line a 20x30cm (8x12in) Swiss roll tin with nonstick baking paper.

Whisk the egg yolks and 75g (3oz) caster sugar together until pale and mousse-like. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining caster sugar and whisk until thick and glossy. The whites should stand in stiff peaks. Fold the ground almonds and a pinch of salt into the egg yolk mix and fold in the whites. Pour into the tin and smooth out. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden.

Sprinkle another sheet of nonstick baking paper with a little caster sugar and turn the cooked sponge out onto it, peeling its paper away. Trim the sponge to leave a clean edge all the way around. Roll up from one long side, including the paper in the roll. Leave to cool.

Carefully unroll the sponge. Spread with the ganache, leaving a gap around the outside. Spoon the remaining passionfruit pulp over and re-roll the roulade. Transfer to a plate. Use a fine sieve to dust over the icing sugar, then decorate with white chocolate curls.

Tip

To make chocolate curls, chill a large baking sheet in the freezer. Melt 200g (7oz) white chocolate (as described in step 1, left)and pour onto the sheet in a 1cm (½in) layer. When it sets, use a large knife, held at an angle away from your body, to scrape away from you, pushing the chocolate into curls. They can be kept in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for a few months.

Ingredients

Play dough cookie recipe (omit lollipop sticks)
Royal icing

Directions

Chill the dough

Taking a tablespoon at a time of dough, roll into a rope on wax paper.  (The width and length will depend on how big you want your rose.)

Flatten the rope with your finger.

Starting at one end, start rolling the flattened rope up like a cinnamon roll (see photos)

Place on parchment lined baking sheet.

Chill for 10 minutes, to maintain shape.

Bake according to recipe.

Adhere roses to base cookie with royal icing.

Adorn roses with green tinted royal icing, using a leaf tip.