Mum was a very good cook, although she couldn't necessarily reproduce recipes exactly time after time since she invariably adjusted ingredients as she went.

As children we were always allowed to lick out the cake bowl and if pastry was being made - as it usually was every week and well, with four children it was more or less essential - we were given the trimmings to make whatever misshapen 'thing' we liked and it was baked with the rest.

I can't really say that I learnt to cook from Mum though and when I moved in with the man who would be my first husband (living in sin it was in those days complete with Woolworths wedding ring) I remember that I read a paperback copy of Mrs Beeton's for the first week while he cooked!

We always had home made cakes at home and I was astonished when I went to tea with friends at age 7 to be given a Mr Kipling cupcake - I'd never seen anything like it!

Here are two of Mum's cake recipes, in her own hand, that she wrote out for me many years ago and I regularly make them both.  The Oaty Stuff, as we always called it, was a family staple, although when I make it I often add rice crispies to make it not quite so solid.  At some point Mum cut out some of the sugar, golden syrup and butter from the oaty stuff with the result that, although it may have been healthier, it just fell to bits more readily.  The last recipe is her own filling for Bakewell tart, which never had any ground almonds in but tasted delicious!

Thanks for the recipes Mum x