Chicken & almond pastillas

Morocco’s very own version of the pasty – spiced meat and apricots are wrapped in crisp filo pastry and finished with cinnamon sugar

French rhubarb tart

Take your time with this pretty in pink dessert and you’ll have a fruit pie worthy of any Parisian patisserie shop window

Red velvet choc-cherry cupcakes

Very cherry chocolate sponges dotted with fruit and topped with creamy frosting – perfect for a cake sale

Rudolph cupcakes

Get the kids into the kitchen to decorate these individual chocolate sponges with frosting and sweets

Christmas wreath cake

Turn one fruitcake into two with these festive ideas – this one is a decorative holly ring with fondant icing (find the second recipe in ‘goes well with’)

Simple snow sparkle cake

This crunchy, sugar-snow topping is an easy way to transform a humble fruitcake into a celebration centrepiece

Show your spots cookie sandwiches

These dinky biscuits, stacked with buttercream and topped with Smarties, are perfect for bake sales and cooking with kids

Flowerpot bread

Baking homemade bread is a chance for children to get involved in the kitchen, and flowerpots just add to the fun

Medal cookies

Make these round vanilla biscuits, ice in bright colours, thread on a ribbon and give out as edible prizes

Five-spice mix

An ancient spice mix used in Chinese cooking that combines sweet cinnamon and cloves, fennel seeds and star anise, and tongue-tingling Sichuan pepper