That delicious, but oh-so-simple Victoria Sponge

Baking has become uber-cool recently, but cake decorating? Not so much. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat cake, but spending hours on sugarpaste and ribbons is still one for the little old ladies or those with a LOT of time on their hands. Fiona Cairns is here to change all that with Bake & Decorate, an inspiring new book with numerous tasty recipes and ideas to boost their looks from ordinary to spectacular.

Fiona is something of a cake baking supremo, with a company that supplies 750,000 cakes a year to Harrods, Selfridges and even Sir Paul McCartney. After training as a pastry chef at the Michelin-starred Hambleton Hall, Fiona started her own business from the kitchen table, selling mini cakes to the Conran Shop. Since then she has gone from strength to strength, but as Bake & Decorate shows, she hasn’t forgotten her passion for home baking and she knows how to make a cake look great without spending all day on it.

Bake & Decorate is a book of two halves. The first section is packed with recipes from a simple Victoria sponge to a delicate white chocolate and cardamom rosewater cake. Each recipe is accompanied by stunning photographs and the crystal clear instructions will make them a doddle for even the most unseasoned bakers. Fiona tells you how long you should be spending, how the mixture should look and how long you can keep the cake for. She’s bossy, yet effective and you feel safe in her capable hands.

The second section of the book takes the basic recipes from the first half and embellishes them with gold leaf, flowers, nuts and sweets. There are big cakes and cupcakes, chocolate, biscuits, fruitcakes and meringues. What is great about this book is that there are beautiful cakes for everyone to try – whether it’s simply scattering a few petals all over an iced Victoria sponge (the fresh petal confetti cake) or going all out on a three-tiered, gold-encrusted stunner of a centrepiece (the vintage glamour wedding cake), Fiona’s got it covered.

If you’re in a rush, stick with the first section. The cakes are simple and tasty, and perfect with a cup of tea. If it’s more of a celebration, move on to the back of the book and set aside a few hours to make something outstanding. And if you want to get really creative, head to the 25 easy cheats section at the end of the book, for more ideas: from fairy lights to button-shaped biscuits.

There’s even a tip for disguising a missing slice from a cake… now that’s the kind of cake decorating I can use!

Bake & Decorate by Fiona Cairns is published by Quadrille and available to buy online here.