Would you like softer, juicier fruit in your cakes every time?

Here’s a simple trick: Before adding the fruit to your cake batter, first toss it in a little sugar.

This light sugar coating will immediately start breaking down the fruit’s cell walls and then, in the oven, it draws out the juices and creates a hot syrup that gently poaches the fruit inside the cake. The fruit will soften more quickly as the cake bakes, giving you tender, juicy, almost jammy pieces – especially with stone fruit and berries.

This method also works particularly well with apples and pears.

However, if your fruit is already very ripe or delicate, too much sugar or letting it sit for too long can turn it from soft to collapsed. In that case, just give it a quick toss right before adding it to the batter.

When making small individual tarts it is best to roll your pastry into a log (rather than a disc) before chilling and resting.

When you come to rolling out the pastry, cut the log into slices and then roll out each portion into a round before pressing into the tins. This no-fuss method means there is very little pastry offcuts and no need to re-roll scraps (which often causes the pastry to shrink when baking), ultimately giving you more even tart shell cases.