illusionary cake sandwiches

preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C.

grease and line two 2lb loaf tins

cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy – a stand-mixer will make light work of this

add three eggs and half the flour and beat until smooth, then add the last three eggs and gthe rest of the flour and beat again until smooth and light, add the vanilla and beat one final time

now pour half the cake batter into one of the loaf tins and smooth off the top, then add the 2 tablespoons of cocoa to the remaining batter and beat well, then pour this into the second loaf tin

bake both cakes for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean, then set aside to cool

for the carrot cake mix
175g light muscovado sugar
175ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
140g grated carrot
100g raisins

preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C.

grease and line one2lb loaf tins

tip the sugar into a large mixing bowl, pour in the oil and add the eggs. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots, raisins, poppyseeds and orange rind.

mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then sift into the bowl. Lightly mix all the ingredients – when everything is evenly amalgamated stop mixing. The mixture will be fairly soft and almost runny.

pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes, until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack.

in a large bowl, whip the double cream to a very thick consistency, then divide it in half. To one half stir in the cream cheese, lemon zest and grated carrot and this will give you the carrot cake filling, set aside the rest of the double cream for the chocolate cake filling.

in another large bowl make a buttercream icing by beating the butter till soft and creamy then add the icing sugar and beat again till soft and smooth, this will give you the classic sponge filling.

now you have all your cakes you can begin to assemble the ‘sandwiches’. You should be able to slice your cakes with a bread knife and treat them just like a loaf of bread but it may help to pop the cakes into the fridge for an hour before doing this. Then you simply slice all the cakes and fill them like you would as if making a sandwich. I’ve cut them into triangles because I think they look so pretty like this but you could go for halves or even dainty fingers.