Mary Berry

Mary Berry’s red velvet cupcakes are moist, lightly chocolatey sponges coloured with red food-colouring gel, topped with a tangy cream cheese frosting piped through a star nozzle, baked at 180°C (160°C fan) for 20-25 minutes. The recipe makes 12 cupcakes using her all-in-one method, so everything goes into a single bowl. Berry’s headnote in Foolproof …

Mary Berry’s toffee cupcakes are sticky, caramel-flavoured sponges made with light muscovado sugar and black treacle, topped with a buttercream icing swirled with homemade toffee sauce, baked at 180°C (160°C fan) for about 20 minutes. The recipe makes 12 cupcakes and they keep for 1-2 days in an airtight container. Berry calls these “sticky toffee …

Mary Berry’s lemon meringue cupcakes are soft lemon sponges with freeze-dried strawberries folded through, filled with lemon curd and topped with a glossy Italian-style meringue browned with a blowtorch, baked at 180°C (160°C fan) for 18-20 minutes. The recipe makes 12 cupcakes and the sponges freeze well without the topping. Berry describes these as “strawberry …

Mary Berry’s gluten free chocolate cake is a rich, fudgy, flourless sponge made with dark chocolate, ground almonds, eggs and a touch of coffee, baked at 190°C (170°C fan) for about 50 minutes, then covered in a glossy chocolate and butter icing. Ground almonds replace the flour entirely, giving the cake a dense, moist texture …

Mary Berry’s ginger flapjacks are chewy, golden traybake squares made with porridge oats, demerara sugar, golden syrup, dark chocolate and chopped stem ginger, baked at 160°C (140°C fan) for 35-40 minutes. The recipe makes 24 squares from a 30 x 23cm tin and they keep for up to 2 weeks in a cake tin. Berry …

Mary Berry’s chicken and leek pie is an old-fashioned puff pastry pie filled with cooked chicken, leeks, portabella mushrooms and thyme in a creamy sauce made from apple juice, chicken stock and crème fraîche, baked at 200°C (180°C fan) for 35 minutes. Berry gives quantities for both 6 and 12 servings in the same recipe. …

Mary Berry’s toad in the hole is crispy, well-risen Yorkshire pudding batter baked around browned pork sausages, served with a rich onion gravy made from beef stock, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar. The individual toads bake at 220°C (200°C fan) for 15-18 minutes, or you can make one large version in a roasting …

Mary Berry’s parsnip soup is a creamy, honey-glazed soup made with 900g of parsnips, onions, celery, leek and vegetable stock, finished with double cream. The parsnips are fried with honey until caramelised before the stock goes in, which takes about 30 minutes from start to bowl. Berry calls this recipe “creamy and luxurious” in Cooks …

Mary Berry’s Christmas cake is a rich, dark fruit cake made with currants, sultanas, raisins, glacé cherries, dried apricots and candied peel, soaked overnight in brandy, baked at 140°C (120°C fan) for about 4½ hours. It should be made months in advance and fed with brandy at intervals to let it mature. Berry calls this …

Mary Berry’s Baileys cheesecake is a no-bake, chilled dessert with a buttery digestive biscuit base, a smooth dark chocolate and mascarpone filling laced with Baileys Irish Cream, set in the fridge for at least 6 hours. It serves 6-8 and needs no oven, just patience while it firms up overnight. Berry doesn’t have a Baileys …