Inventive traybakes to feed a crowd. These no-fuss recipes will crown you bake sale royalty
Orange & passion fruit traybake
SERVES 12-16 PREP 20 mins plus cooling COOK 25 mins EASY V
❄ sponge only
150g margarine or butter, plus extra for the tin 150g caster sugar 3 eggs 150g self-raising flour 1 orange, zested and juiced
For the icing
250g mascarpone
1 tbsp icing sugar
4 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 passion fruits, halved
1 Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4, and butter and line a 20 x 24cm cake tin. Beat the margarine or butter and the sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy, then gradually add the eggs. Fold in the flour, then the orange zest and juice. Pour into the tin, smoothing the top, and bake for 25 mins until golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
2 Leave the sponge to cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack, remove the baking parchment. Leave to cool.
3 Meanwhile, make the topping by mixing the mascarpone, icing sugar, orange juice and vanilla until smooth. Scoop out the passion fruit seeds, then add half to the mix.
4 Use a palette knife to spread the topping over the cake, then top with the remaining passion fruit seeds.
PER SERVING (16) 231 kcals • fat 16g • saturates 6g • carbs 19g • sugars 12g • fibre 1g • protein 3g • salt 0.2g
Pink jam slice
SERVES 24 PREP 40 mins plus cooling and overnight setting COOK 35 mins EASY V
300g butter, at room temperature 120g golden caster sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 large egg yolk 500g plain flour 400g raspberry jam 500g icing sugar few drops of pink food colouring
1 Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 20 x 30cm cake tin with baking parchment (two lengths criss-crossing is the easiest way).
2 Beat the butter, caster sugar, vanilla and egg yolk together in a large bowl with an electric whisk until pale. Stir in the flour with a good pinch of salt using a wooden spoon, then use your hands to bring everything together into a crumbly dough.
3 Press half into the base of the tin as evenly as you can (a potato masher works well for this), and smooth the top. Spread over the jam, leaving a 1cm border around the edge. Crumble over the remaining shortbread, then pat down, trying not to dislodge the jam too much. It will look patchy, but don’t worry, the icing will smooth it out. Bake for 35 mins until just golden. Leave to cool in the tin.
4 Once cool, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in about 100ml water with some food colouring to make a slightly thick but runny icing. Pour over the slice, then tilt the tin to spread. Quickly
