A lovely Christmas ‘cake’ courtesy of Nigella, the Kitchen Goddess. Couldn’t be easier: the day before you want to serve it, buy some supermarket plain cake (usually called madeira cake), slice onto a large serving platter, layering about two slices deep only. Sluice liberally with a mixture of orange marmalade and Cointreau, with a dash of any other orange-flavoured liquer you have on hand, or just plain orange juice. You need enough liquid (in whatever proportions you choose) to make sure the cake is damp. Refrigerate for 24 hours if possible – but even a couple of hours will do. Apply a generous overcoat of whipped cream, and then add whatever festive fruit you can lay your hands on. This time I had raspberries from my garden, strawberries, blueberries, a few redcurrants and some peculiar but sweet-tasting things called kakaberries, which looked like a cross between a blackberry and a loganberry. Nigella adds zest from an orange – but as usual, I forgot to add this! Quantities are up to the chef … a few slices of cake per person should be sufficient.

Happy Christmas!