wholemeal flat bread

• 350g wholemeal flour, plus extra for dusting
• 4 tsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil

Put the flour in a medium bowl and rub in the oil with your fingertips. Stir in 225ml warm water, mix thoroughly, then knead until the dough feels smooth and elastic.

Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into eight balls. Sprinkle the work surface with a little more flour and roll out one of the balls very thinly, using a floured rolling pin, to around 22cm in diameter. Turn the dough regularly and sprinkle with a little more flour if it begins to stick. Set aside and make the other flatbreads in the same way. If making ahead, freeze before cooking.

Put a medium non-stick frying pan over a high heat and, once hot, add one of the flatbreads. Cook for about 30 secs, then turn over and cook on the other side for 30 secs. Press the flatbread with a spatula while cooking to encourage it to puff up and cook inside – it should be lightly browned in patches and look fairly dry, without being crisp. Repeat with the remaining flatbreads, keeping them warm by wrapping in a clean tea towel until needed.

my daughters rainbow cake

 

Ingredients

125g butter, softened, plus a little extra for greasing

225g plain flour

150g golden caster sugar

3 medium eggs (very important to use the correct size)

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

edible food colouring - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, plus optional pink (see below

 

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease 2 x 20cm round sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Tip all the sponge ingredients, apart from the food colouring, into a mixing bowl, then beat with an electric whisk until smooth.

2. Working quickly, weigh the mixture into another bowl to work out the total weight, then weigh exactly half the mixture back into the mixing bowl. Pick 2 of your colours and stir a little into each mix. Keep going until you are happy with the colour – the colour of the batter now will be very similar to the finished cake, so be brave! Scrape the different batters into the tins, trying to spread and smooth as much as possible – but try not to waste a drop of the batter – a rubber spatula will help you. Bake on the same oven shelf for 12 mins until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean.

3. Gently turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool. Wash the tins and bowls thoroughly, and start again from step 1 – this time using another 2 colours. Unless you’re making the optional pink layer, repeat one more time to get 6 sponges, all of different colours. Leave them all to cool.

4. To make the icing, very briefly beat the vanilla and cream cheese or mascarpone with an electric whisk until smooth. Sift in the icing sugar and gently fold in with a spatula. Be careful – the more you work it, the runnier it will get, increasing the chance of splitting.

5. Smear a little icing on your cake stand or plate – just a splodge to stick the first sponge. Start with the red, then spread with some icing right to the very edge. Repeat, sandwiching on top the orange, yellow, green, blue and finally purple sponges. Spread the remaining icing thickly all over the sides and top of the cake. For more tips and expert advice on how to create the perfect rainbow cake, check out our tips, below

6. MY DAUGHTER ENDED UP MAKING JUST ONE CAKE WAS REALLY TASTY AND THE COLOURS LOOKED GREAT

   
   
   
   

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