All four Thai flavour sensations – salty, sweet, sour and fragrant – feature in a prawn salad with green mango and peanuts and a pineapple coconut lime loaf for dessert

I still remember the first time I tried Thai green mango salad. It was, and is, a heady combination of flavours: salt, in both crystals and from fish sauce; sugar, preferably unrefined; fresh chilli, lots of it; citrus tang from the lime; and lots of aromatic notes from the herbs. It’s also very simple to bash together at home, as is this embellished version with prawns and peanuts. Just make sure you have a large pestle and mortar, which is the secret to many a great sauce.

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Store-cupboard heaven: a no-bake, creamy coconut and passionfruit tart with a biscuit base, and a simple and adaptable spiced pineapple tart with bay cream

I’ve always felt that dessert is the best part of a meal. And I’m typically the designated dessert person – the one who volunteers to bring along something sweet. It’s a role I take very seriously. My new book is full of the recipes I make for those cosy dinner parties with friends, for church potlucks, last-minute get-togethers, weekend lunches, big family gatherings and everything in between. These two tarts put store-cupboard staples and tropical fruits to work for an easy, refreshing end to any meal.

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A real blow-out, luxury Easter cake of joy – and no chocolate for a change!

Easter is a time for celebration, and this definitely counts as a proper celebration cake. Taking inspiration from bakewell tart, it has three layers of moist almond sponge broken up with cherry jam and a silky swiss meringue buttercream. I only ever use almond extract in bakewell – it’s one of those ingredients you either love or loathe, but I find that just a few drops bring the right amount of fragrant marzipan flavour to this Easter cake.

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Cleverly using just one size of cake tin for all her recipes, the baker and author has come up with a stunning array of beautiful cakes. Here, we pick five of our favourites from her new cookbook

Before I moved to the UK, my love for lemons was limited to savoury dishes, lemonade and shikanji, an Indian lemon drink. It wasn’t until 2001 – on the third day of my new life in the UK – that I tried lemon cake. I didn’t know then that it would become my favourite.

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A sharp but fluffy lemon curd sandwich cake covered in whipped vanilla cream

Chiffon cake is a cloud-like delight. I’ve omitted the sugar syrup you often find in other recipes for it, because I think it detracts from the lightness of the texture – you want a soft, airy crumb. You can use a shop-bought lemon curd for ease, but I’ve shared a homemade one if you feel inclined to try it; I love a little sharpness to contrast with the round sweetness of the vanilla cream coating.

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See off winter with hazelnut cake and spring rhubarb, and comforting, spiced sweet potatoes

A slice of tender cake, a few fallen crumbs at its side, a spoonful of whipped cream and a little puddle of fruit. I ask for nothing more at tea time at the weekend and am happy if such crumbs of comfort are offered up as a dessert on other occasions.

There is a cake and fruit for every season. On an early summer’s day, an almond sponge with a pool of cherries; in autumn, stewed damsons, their purple juice bleeding into a triangle of fudgy vanilla cheesecake. At this point in winter-spring, a soft-crumbed hazelnut cake, a pink tangle of rhubarb and a small mound of whipped cream – perhaps flecked with vanilla – will fit the bill. If there is no fruit, I will eat my cake with apricot jam, warmed in a small saucepan then trickled over, sticky and glowing.

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A nostalgic treat: a fluffy coconut cake smothered in buttercream with a big blob of raspberry jam in the middle

I absolutely adored the fat, fluffy wedges of jam and coconut cake at school. It’s not a combination I see much today, but it makes for an instant nostalgia trip. This version is more of an inspired by” cake, rather than an exact copy of the original. I’ve upped the coconut flavour in the sponge with both coconut milk and desiccated coconut, and generously increased the proportion of raspberry jam, because you can never have too much.

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Now available at supermarket chains as well cafes and bakeries, the pastel de nata has become a UK staple

Francisco Oliveira was working in finance in Lisbon when he decided to move to London to sell custard tarts.

The son of two bakers, he could see Britons were developing a taste for the traditional Portuguese pastel de nata , but his plans for the new business were nonetheless bold – to sell tarts and not much else.

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Make Mum’s day with a lemon drizzle cake with poppy seed brittle, and a batch of irresistible sesame, pecan and date cookies

Lemon drizzle is a nostalgic cake for many of us, and reminds us of our childhood. And who made all those cakes, and all those memories? I used to think that cakes somehow just “appeared” almost out of thin air but, of course, there’s no such thing. A child’s day is made sweet by a whole lot of planning and stirring and baking. Why not turn the tables this year and make your mother a lemon drizzle cake? And, after all these years, it’s her turn to lick the bowl, OK?

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