This is a week for spoiling yourself. With four layers, this almond and lemon-curd cake is a real showstopper. It has a great range of tastes – from the raspberries, the honey and the lemon– and it looks fabulous. We use so many lemons this time of the year with jugs of water to sip in the good weather. I always keep some Limoncello handy, as I love to drizzle a little over vanilla ice cream. The ground almonds help to keep this cake nice and moist – and it does keep well.

This red velvet cake is rich and moist. It is just plain wonderful – and I am regularly asked for the recipe. I suspect a lot of you will cut this one out. Make sure you get some good-quality dark chocolate. And aren’t we so lucky with the quality of our dairy produce? The chocolate and cream drizzled over this cake really completes it fabulously. One slice will not be enough !

Almond and lemon curd cake with raspberry sauce

Serves 10 to 12

350g (12oz) butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

350g (12oz) caster sugar

6 large eggs

250g (9oz) self-raising flour

150g (5oz) ground almonds

Finely grated rind of three lemons

For the filling and topping:

250g (9oz) raspberries

1 tsp runny honey

Juice of ½ lemon

300g (10oz) butter, softened

500g (1lb 2 oz) icing sugar

Splash of milk

1-2 tbsp Limoncello (Italian lemon liqueur), optional

200g (7oz) good-quality lemon curd

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C, (350°F/gas mark 4). Grease and line 2 x 20cm loose-bottomed cake tins with parchment paper. Using a hand-held electric mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar in a large bowl.

2 Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then fold in the flour, ground almonds and lemon rind. Divide between the prepared tins and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until well risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins.

3 Meanwhile, reserve 100g (4oz) of the raspberries and mix the remainder in a bowl with the honey and lemon juice. Leave at room temperature for 30 minutes, mashing occasionally, then push through a sieve to make a sauce.

4 To make the buttercream, using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the butter in a bowl until pale then sift in half of the icing sugar and beat for one minute, then sift in the rest. Add the milk and beat for three minutes, until pale and creamy.

5 To assemble the cake, start by cutting each sponge in half so that you end up with four rounds. Place one on a plate or cake stand and add a few dips of Limoncello, if using, before spreading over a thin layer of the buttercream, followed by another thin layer of lemon curd. Repeat until you’ve got four sponges stacked on top of each other.

6 Spread the rest of the buttercream in a thin layer all over the top and sides of the cake, smoothing it nicely with a palette knife. Dilute the rest of the lemon curd with a little water and then gently spoon over the cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.

7 Decorate with the reserved raspberries and serve the raspberry sauce in a little jug on the side.

Red velvet tree trunk cake

Serves 12 to 20

For the sponge:

200g (7oz) butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

350g (12oz) soft light-brown sugar

seeds of ½ a vanilla pod and ½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp red food colouring

6 medium eggs

275g (10oz) self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp cocoa powder

200g (7oz) crème fraîche

For the frosting:

125g (4½oz) plain chocolate, melted

175g (6oz) butter, softened

375g (13oz) icing sugar, sifted

2 tbsp cream

For the chocolate ganache drizzle:

150ml (¼ pint) cream

150g (5oz) plain chocolate, chopped, plus extra for grating over the cake

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C, (350°F/gas mark 4). Grease and line 3 x 20cm (8in) cake tins with parchment paper. In a freestanding mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat the vanilla and food colouring with two of the eggs. Add another two eggs and beat again, then beat in the last two eggs.

2 Sieve together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Using a large metal spoon, fold the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture in alternate batches with the crème fraîche. Divide among the prepared tins and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until well-risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins.

3 Mix together all of the chocolate frosting ingredients in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment for five minutes, until light and spreadable. Place one of the cakes on a plate or cake stand with a blob of frosting underneath and then spread the top with a little more frosting. Cover with another cake and more frosting. Top with the remaining cake, flipping it over so that the flat side of the cake is now at the top. Lightly press all the cake layers together, then use a palette knife to spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake, swirling it so it looks rough like tree bark.

4 Heat the cream in a pan, but don’t boil it. Take off the heat and add the chocolate, leaving it to melt for a few minutes. Then stir the chocolate gently and let it cool down a little. Pour the chocolate ganache drizzle all over the cake so that it drizzles in a nice smooth layer all over the top and then comes nicely down the sides of the cake. Grate over the chocolate to serve. CL