Recipe collections

Cherry and marzipan cake: a simple buttermilk cake batter with glace cherries and a layer of homemade marzipan. Result: stunning. Just try. And don’t you DARE use shop bought marzipan!

Pull apart cherry buns are soft, delicious and easy to bake. With cherry jam filling, studded with dried and glace cherries, they make a delightful breakfast or afternoon tea.

Cherry chocolate bread, sourdough based brioche filled with a mix of white chocolate chips, glace cherries and almond flakes. It's easy to make with yeast instead, and the perfect weekend breakfast idea.

Buttery cornmeal muffins with glace cherries, gluten free and enormously satisfying. Crunchy around the edges, the jewelled glace cherries intersperse rich yellow cornmeal crumb.

Cherry cream dacquoise is an exquisite gateau which is far easier to make than you’d think. Almond meringue dacquoise layers filled with fresh cream and homemade candied cherries – a riff on black forest gateau.

Indulgent cherry jam with preserved chunks of cherries. The best thing about eating cherries is spitting out the pips, right ahead, no matter where.

Pork, chestnut and mushroom stuffing for turkey or goose, perfect Christmas trimming. But don't stuff the bird - cook the stuffing separately to ensure both cook evenly.

Chicken Fiorentina, or petto di pollo alla fiorentina. Chicken Florentine style, with creamy spinach sauce, is an easy and incredibly tasty dish, ready in minutes.

Roast chicken with seared halloumi cheese and peach salsa is the perfect warm salad with sweet and spicy combination of flavours.

Chicken and mushroom pie with cheddar and thyme homemade crust. I think I’ve achieved almost perfection here, below, with my cheddar thyme pastry packed with chicken and porcini mix cooked from scratch.

Chicken and prawn paella, an absolutely foolproof recipe. For best results use paella rice, Bomba or Calasparra and an ordinary large frying pan.

My take on chicken Caesar salad has chicken fried in breadcrumbs and the best dressing. Purists and critics might comment that it’s a Chicken Nugget Salad, not Caesar. So be it. Damn tasty. Might be a hit with kids if you stick to that name.

Chicken chow mein takeaway style with crispy noodles: 'chow mein' means 'fried noodles'. With stir fried chicken and a salty touch of smoked ham, it's actually much better than takeaway.

Easy chicken Creole with chicken breast chunks and homemade Creole seasoning; best served with rice or plain tortilla chips.

Chicken enchiladas with green tomato salsa verde. The salsa can be shop-bought, very well, but if you have some green tomatoes – one easy thing to grow in England – you can try from scratch.

Crispy chicken Milanese with tarragon flavour, traditionally served with just a rocket salad. Marinate the chicken in buttermilk before coating in breadcrumbs, that’s the secret to extra crisp crust and succulent meat.

Chicken parcel stuffed with mozzarella, basil and garlic wrapped and baked in parchment paper. For the record, one portion is about 575cal. For masochists, 275 without the mozarrella.

Chicken rarebit inspired by Welsh rarebit is chicken fillet with mozzarella and mushroom topping. An incredible chicken melt super easy to prepare.

Oven baked chicken rice pilaf is an easy dinner: a one pot casserole ready in total of forty-five minutes. Chicken never lets you down, right?

Chicken saltimbocca, thin escalopes of chicken fillet layered with sage leaves, Parmesan and Parma ham. Saltimbocca is classically made with veal but the chicken version is easier and delicious.

Oven cooked chicken shawarma, fragrant with spices, is made from chicken thigh pieces marinated overnight and threaded on skewers.

The best chicken soup made from whole chicken carcass, with my Grandma’s unique ingredient. It’s a cure for the cold, it’s the ultimate comfort, it’s a beautiful soup.

Chicken and red peppers tagine with raisins and barberries. This is an adjusted recipe: do not be tempted to add more liquid unless you peeked in (well done, you) and saw it becoming too dry.

Chicken breast and vegetable tray bake – it’s good for a weeknight dinner and impressive enough for easy entertaining. Only one pan to wash up!

Chicken thighs stuffed with chorizo and garlic, cooked under a skillet. The classic version of this performance features a brick – a London brick ideally, handmade and used widely for (you’d never guess) building houses in the first half of the 20th century.

Roast chicken breast with butter fried spicy sweetcorn and crispy baked feta cheese crumbs, three great recipes in one wonderful dish.

Chicken with grapes and olives oven baked with a few chestnut mushrooms looks autumnal and tastes divine. Sweet and salty combo is not just for caramel ice cream, you see!

Chicken yu xiang, chicken breast pieces cooked in Sichuan ‘fragrant fish’ sauce which has seafood only in the name. With addition of dried cranberries for the sweetness and almonds for crunch.

Chicken and melon salad with feta and avocado. Roasted sliced chicken breast is lovely paired with fresh melon, salty feta, filo crumbs and a few seeds.

Simple chickpea salad with pancetta, red pepper and mushrooms makes a quick and easy lunchtime dish. Tinned chickpeas are dry roasted in a pan with cayenne pepper.

Easy slow cooked chilli con carne with minced beef, cannellini and red kidney beans, ancho and chipotle chillies and a pinch of cocoa powder. Both dry and tinned bean options in my recipe.

Chilli con corn – vegetarian sweetcorn chilli with beans goes well with tortillas, baked potatoes or nachos. Corn on the cob cooked with classic chilli flavours – the fresher ears of corn, the better!

Crab butter with Thai chilli flavour, fantastic on toast or fresh bread. Chili crab butter is easy to make and can be served as a dip or sandwich spread.

Chinese flower shaped bread rolls, baked in the oven, are buttery and spiced with za’atar and chives instead of traditional spring onions. Just so I can have them for breakfast!

Chocolate and glace cherry cake; my deconstructed black forest gateau. Cherries mixed into the batter, cream served on the side, it’s a mere hint of the black forest cake.

Braided chocolate brioche, not too sweet and perfect for breakfast. The braided bread is quite a challenge for me, the messy baker. I’m absolutely no good at tidy shaping. My challahs invariably have one end thicker than the other. Spacing of cookies suffers in giant quadruples melded together. And I am a lousy cake decorator

The best chocolate cake with tart apricot jam filling and chocolate ganache layers. Rich and fudgy gateau, not very difficult to make. Your next birthday cake?

Traditional recipe for chocolate covered lebkuchen or gingerbreads. Chocolate coated and with jam filling, they are soft and indulgent. And the fun of dipping cookies in melted chocolate is the spirit of Christmas!

Crack or crinkle cookies, deliciously soft and chocolatey, wrapped in cracked icing sugar coating. These biscuits are fairly easy to make and are best baked after the dough chills overnight.

Chocolate genoise sponge cake with raspberry flavoured buttercream and whipped chocolate ganache frosting is the perfect birthday, holiday or any celebration cake.

Chocolate hot cross buns with sticky glaze and white chocolate crosses are messy to eat, difficult to toast and absolutely irresistible this Easter! Flavoured with cocoa and of course the 'hot' spice mix, with a crunch of cacao nibs.

The easiest chocolate mousse dessert, whipped ganache flavoured with Grand Marnier. I’m offering the grownup version here: darkest chocolate, Grand Marnier; but it’s made just as well with milk chocolate and no alcohol, or even white chocolate (skip sugar in both cases).

Double chocolate muffins, wonderfully gooey in the centre and a doddle to make. These little things will surely be firm favourites with whoever you make them for, builders or not. Incredibly easy to make it must be said - you needn’t even take care not to overmix like usually with muffins.

Chocolate cake with passion fruit buttercream is more than just a cake; it's the perfect celebration gateau. For when you want to eat the cake, not just look at it.

Chocolate loaf cake with crunchy streusel; not too sweet, not too sickly, just right. With a large mug of milky coffee it will go down a treat even at half past seven in the morning.

Chocolate whoopie pies with marshmallow frosting. The classic is chocolate but they come in other flavours: vanilla, raspberry, red velvet or pumpkin. The filling should be marshmallow (made with Marshmallow Fluff if you’re in New England), but cream cheese, buttercream or chocolate all acceptable too.

Easy chocolate cake with yoghurt, honey and shaved chocolate. The batter is ready in about three minutes and the cake is almost healthy – not much fat and not much sugar.

Chorizo and sweetcorn filo pastry pie with a cheesy layer of ricotta and cheddar mix is a delicious weekend family brunch dish or a dinner party centrepiece.