CHERRY SHORTCAKE TRAY BAKE

Along, long time ago I was given this recipe by a school cook. It made huge quantities and she used a very economical recipe with lard and margarine. I loved the recipe because it was so quick and easy but I exchange the two fats for butter and like it even more.

Serves 12-16

Prep time 15 minutes, cooking time 30-40 minutes

What you will need

A stand mixer if you have one or a hand-held electric mixer

A traybake tin

An offset spatula or a fish slice

Ingredients

375g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar plus extra for scattering over the top of the shortcake

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

570g plain flour

10g baking powder

175g glacé cherries, halved

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 160C fan assisted, 180C, 350F, gas mark 4.

2 Place the sugar, butter and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat on medium until all combined but don’t over-beat.

3 Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture and then, before folding in the flour, add the cherries so they get coated in a little of the flour.

4 Fold in the flour until fully combined.

5 The mixture is quite a firm dough and will need dropping into the baking tin. With an offset spatula/ fish slice push the mixture into the corners and level off so it will bake evenly, press down firmly so the finished bake will be firm and not too crumbly.

Tip - if the mixture sticks to the spatula, change to a fish slice dampened with a little water and continue until the shortcake is level and pressed down.

6 Place in the oven on the middle-to-bottom shelf and bake for 30-40 minutes. Check to see if the shortcake is ready after 30 minutes – it should be turning golden around the edges but still pale in the middle and slightly firm to touch. Give it 5 more minutes and keep doing this until it is ready to come out of the oven. Scatter caster sugar over the shortcake, then place on a cooling rack where it will continue to firm up as it cools. Allow the bake to become completely cold before cutting.

7 Once cold, cut and store the pieces in an airtight container where they will keep for 2 weeks. The shortcake freezes well for up to 2 months so if you are time-short but have an odd hour free at the weekend, bake a batch and freeze them until needed. Allow them to defrost overnight on a worktop.

Variation for another week

You can replace the glacé cherries with chocolate chips or mini chunks of chocolate. These go well for cake stalls – the parents like the cherries and the children go for the chocolate chips so it’s a win-win situation!