Treat mum to a homemade Mother’s Day gift this year, by showing off your baking skills and serving up some scrumptious goodies. There’s something for every baker – whether you’re after something simple and easy, vegan-friendly or a show-stopping treat.

Here are our favourite springtime recipes for fabulous bakes and tasty treats, all of which are ideal for celebrating Mother’s Day on the 27th March.

Springtime Recipes We Love – Bakewell Tart Traybake

Makes a 20 x 30 cm traybake – 15 bars

Ingredients

150g Plain flour
150g Caster sugar, split into 50g and 100g
200g Unsalted butter, softened, split into 2 x 100g
150g Ground almonds
1 Egg
200g Raspberry jam
Handful of flaked almonds
Icing sugar to dust

Equipment

Large mixing bowl
Spoon
Traybake tin, 9” x 13”, lined with baking paper
Sieve/muslin (for dusting)
Knife

Method

Preheat the oven to 165°c (fan).
Put all of the plain flour and 50g of caster sugar in the mixing bowl before rubbing in 100g of unsalted butter with your fingertips. When the mixture resembles crumbs, pour it into the lined traybake tin, spread it evenly and press it down so the crumbs loosely join together. Bake the base for 15 minutes.
While the base is baking, combine the remaining 100g of butter, 100g caster sugar, ground almonds and the egg in the mixing bowl with a spoon to make the frangipane topping.
When the base has had its 15 minutes, remove it from the oven and add the jam, spreading it with the back of the spoon to make an even layer over the top, followed by all of the frangipane mix (this will be a thicker layer) and a sprinkling of flaked almonds before returning to the oven for a further 30 minutes.
When the traybake is golden on top, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the tin. Dust the whole thing with icing sugar, slice into bars and top with more flaked almonds. Enjoy!

Springtime Recipes We Love – Biscuit Base Lemon Meringue Pie

Prep time: 60 minutes (+ 4 hrs resting time) Cook time: 15 minutes

Serves: 8-10 (8-inch pie) Ingredients
For the biscuit base:

– 200g Mr Organic Ginger & Lemon Biscuits
– 75g vegan butter, melted

For the lemon curd filling:

– 90 g vegan butter
– 250 ml Mr Organic Lemon Juice
– 250 ml coconut milk

– 1 tsp vanilla essence
– 100 g icing sugar
– 2 1⁄2 tbsp cornflour
– 1/2 tsp agar agar powder

For the aquafaba meringue:

– 125 ml aquafaba (chickpea water from 1 tin of chickpeas)
– 1⁄4 tsp cream of tartar
– 100g granulated sugar
– 2 tbsp water

Place the biscuits into a food processor and pulse until they are broken down. Combine with the melted vegan butter in a mixing bowl, then press the mixture into the bottom and sides of an 8-inch pie tin. Place the pie base into the fridge for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the filling.

For the lemon curd filling, add the butter, lemon juice, coconut milk, vanilla essence, and icing sugar to a medium-sized saucepan over low heat. Bring to a simmer whilst stirring regularly.

In a small bowl, whisk the corn flour and agar agar powder with 3 tbsp of plant milk until dissolved. Pour the mix into your lemon curd and continue to stir for 5-10 minutes on the lowest heat setting or until the mix begins to thicken.

Immediately pour the lemon curd into the pie crust and place your lemon pie into the fridge to set for at least 4 hours or overnight.

To create the aquafaba meringue, start by measuring your aquafaba liquid from 1 tin of chickpeas. Most tins contain a little more than the 125 ml that we need for this recipe. For best results, add the liquid to a saucepan and reduce it over low heat until you have only 125ml.Through cooking off the rest, the aquafaba becomes thicker and more egg-like, resulting in a better meringue, so please don’t skip this step.

Pour your reduced aquafaba into a clean, grease-free mixing bowl alongside the cream of tartar. Place the granulated sugar and water into a non-stick saucepan and bring to a simmer on low to medium heat until it reaches 116-118C (without stirring!). In the meantime, whip your aquafaba into stiff peaks using an electric hand mixer.

Carefully remove the pie from the tin and place it onto a serving dish.

Pour the hot sugar syrup into the whipped aquafaba and continue to whisk until well combined. Transfer the meringue mixture to a piping bag and decorate your pie – or alternatively spoon it on top for a more rustic finish. Use a torch to lightly brown the meringue and you’re ready to serve!

Store your lemon meringue pie in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Springtime Recipes We Love – Gin & Tonic Drizzle Loaf

Makes 1 x 2lb loaf

Ingredients

1 Grapefruit/orange or 2 x lemons/limes
175g Self-raising flour
175g Caster sugar + 75g for soaking syrup
175g Unsalted butter, softened
3 Eggs
120ml Gin split into 50ml and 70ml
75ml Tonic water
150g Icing sugar

Equipment

Knife
Fine grater/zester
Large mixing bowl
Electric hand whisk
Fork
2lb Loaf tin lined with baking paper/ loaf tin liner
Saucepan
Spoon

Method

Preheat the oven to 165°c (fan).
Take whichever citrus you are using and cut half into slices for decorating (½ grapefruit/orange or 1 whole lemon/lime). Zest and juice the other half using the fine grater/zester to zest and the fork to get the juice from the fruit.
In the large mixing bowl, combine the self-raising flour, citrus zest and 175g of caster sugar. Add the butter, eggs, 50ml of gin, 2 tbsp of citrus juice and mix with the electric hand whisk until smooth.
Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin and bake for 35 minutes until golden and springy to touch. Remove from the oven but leave in the tin.
While the loaf is cooling slightly, pour the remaining citrus juice, tonic and 75g sugar into the saucepan and heat on a medium-high heat for 5-8 minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved. Allow to cool slightly before stirring in the remaining gin (70ml). Set aside 3 tbsp of the syrup for the glaze.
Poke the loaf all over with the fork and drizzle with the syrup from the saucepan. You can do this while the loaf is still warm.
When the loaf is completely cool, remove from the tin. Wipe clean your mixing bowl and then use it to combine the 3 tbsp of reserved syrup with the icing sugar to make a glaze and pour over the top of your loaf, slightly pushing it down the sides with the end of a spoon to create a drip effect. Decorate with citrus slices and serve.

Springtime Recipes We Love – Juliet Sear’s Lemon Meringue Show Stopper Cake

This delicious and zingy lemon meringue cake is extra special, with a stripy filling for a lovely surprise when cut. It’s made easy by using 2 packets of the Carr’s Luscious Lemon Cake Mix, producing a tall 4-layered sponge cake. If you prefer to keep it simple there’s no need to pipe the stripy filing you can simply fill with frosting and lemon curd, but it’s really simple to achieve the stripe effect and well worth it for the reaction you get when people see the inside!

Makes:

1 x 6” round layer cake – serves approximately 16

Equipment

2 x 6” round cake tins, base and side lined
Stand mixer with paddle attachment or bowls and wooden spoons
Cake turntable (optional)
Cake stand or plate for display
2 x piping bags
Palette knife
Wire rack

Ingredients

2 x Carr’s Luscious Lemon Cake Mix 425g
6 eggs
200ml water
200ml oil or 200g butter

For the Frosting

350g softened unsalted butter
700g sifted icing sugar
200g lemon curd
A pack of meringue nests
Yellow food colouring (strong gel colour is best – the liquid kind will make the icing runny)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190C (170C Fan/Gas Mark 5).
Mix the cake mixes according to the pack instructions.
Divide the batter into 4 and place a quarter into the two tins, reserving the remaining half until the first two layers have baked.
Bake for around 20-25 mins until the sponges are light, golden and springy and cooked in the centre completely. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then remove from the tins, peel away the paper and cool on a wire rack. Then bake the remaining two layers in the same way.
While the cakes are cooling, make your frosting. Beat the butter until very creamy and smooth, for a minute or so. Gradually add the icing sugar, about a quarter at a time, beating each addition slowly at first so the icing sugar doesn’t puff up everywhere, and then once mixed, beat well for a minute or so each time. Continue until you have a light and fluffy buttercream. Mix in 100g of lemon curd to the frosting reserving the further 100g of lemon curd for spreading onto the sponge layers.
Remove 250g of the frosting and place it into a plastic piping bag.
Remove a further 250g and tint this a bright yellow colour and place it into a piping bag. Once your sponge layers have cooled, check they are flat and level, if any have small humps where they have risen, trim a little off the top of each cake so it’s flat. Save the trim for cake pops, truffles or trifle.
Place the first layer onto your plate or stand. Add a splodge of buttercream to stick it in place, making sure the side that was in the bottom of the tin is stuck to the plate and the top/trimmed side is upwards. Spread over with a third of the curd.
Snip a hole in both bags and pipe a white ring around the edge of the cake, you want the frosting in the layer to be about 5mm thickness.
Now pipe a ring of yellow within the outer circle and continue in the same manner, it will look a bit like a bullseye with decreasing white and yellow rings. Top with a second cake, crust side up and repeat with the curd and striped filling and again with the third in the same way.
Invert the last sponge with the crust facing down and the smooth part of the cake that was in the bottom of the tin is uppermost. Press onto the cake to set it firmly and make sure it is all in line and as neat as possible.
With a palette knife, dollop the rest of the frosting on top of the cake, spread over the top and sides until it’s all covered and the gaps between the cake layers are filled. Use a gentle pressure against the side of the cake with the palette knife and use a back and forth spreading motion to spread the frosting over the top and sides. Once you’re happy with the coating, if you like to make a pattern you can run the end of the palette knife around the outside of the cake, building upwards to give you little ruffles up the side of the cake, and for the top use the end of the palette knife and gently sweep around the outside edge to make a swirl, decreasing as you go to give you a swirl pattern over the top.
To finish, crush up a few meringues into little pieces and press against the bottom of the cake with a flat palm and sprinkle around the outer top edge to finish.

Springtime Recipes We Love – Salted Almond Butter and Chocolate Millionaire Shortbread

40 mins

8 people

INGREDIENTS

190g of plain flour
2 tbsp of almond flour
A sprinkle of sea salt
70g of icing sugar
130g of dairy-free spread
130g smooth almond butter
130g of light brown sugar
1 tin of dairy free condensed milk (320g)
1/2 tsp of sea salt flakes
2 tbsp of dairy free cream
3 tbsp of cornflour
1 jar of Mr Organic Dairy Free Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread
Sea salt flakes

METHOD

1. Start with the shortbread base- preheat your oven to 180C, then combine the flour, almond flour, sea salt and icing sugar in a mixing bowl, then add in the dairy-free spread and use your hands to crumb it into the mix until no big pieces of spread are left and the mixture is crumbly.

2. Place the mixture into a 20x20cm square baking tin and press it against the bottom to create an even layer. Pierce the base with a fork multiple times, then bale it in the oven for 20 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes.

3. In the meantime, prepare your salted almond butter caramel: to a non stick pan add the almond butter, brown sugar and condensed milk. Give it a good stir to mix and heat over gentle heat until the sugar is caramelised and well incorporated. Sprinkle in the sea salt flakes and fold them in, then stir the cornflour into the vegan cream and pour the mixture into the caramel. Stir to combine, then remove the caramel from the heat and allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes to slightly harden.

4. Pour the caramel on top of the shortbread base and spread it out evenly, then place it in the freezer for at least 1 hour.

5. Place the jar of Mr Organic Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread into your warm oven at about 50-60C for 10 minutes, so that the spread becomes soft and runny. Pour about 3/4 of a jar on top of the frozen caramel and spread it across the top with the back of a spoon, then sprinkle with sea salt flakes (optional). Transfer to a fridge or freezer to set for at least 2 hours.

6. Remove from the freezer and slice the millionaire shortbread whilst still frozen. Let it rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before digging in and enjoy!