This recipe was devised by Nicolas Boussin, winner of the coveted title of Best Pastry Chef in France. Inspired by a burning log fire, but by no means confined to Christmas, this recipe has warm fiery overtones. This luxury chocolate cake costs less than £1 per slice net to make, but can retail for up to £4 per slice in a high-end bakery, café or patisserie. Each cake serves eight slices or can be sold whole.

T his is a classic, multi-layered, coffee and chocolate flavoured cake or slice, which appeared in Paris in the 1930s. It was created in honour of the Paris Opera House.

The following 'shock freezing' technique, which creates thin, flexible sheets of chocolate, is perfect for decorating Christmas logs. But be warned, this only works with real chocolate, not with baker's coating.

This straightforward and reliable cake both tastes good and is low in fat. What more could you want to satisfy today's demanding consumers?

This is a variation of a classic dessert, which makes a perfect light summer treat. It is made using a stiff meringue mix, which can be easily piped into shape. We sell our Pavlova for £17.

This is a very dense cake, delicious served as a dessert with berries and Greek yoghurt. The large number of egg yolks used provides the rich yellow colour. Over the years there have been a number of recipes for gold cakes, created, no doubt, to use up egg yolks left over from other recipes. This particular recipe comes from Cakes and Confections à la Mode by Mrs Harriet De Salis, 1889.

Citrus joconde: (total 715g)

Plums in old recipes mean currants rather than plums. Plum cakes were popular and there are a variety of recipes to choose from. This one comes from The Experienced English Housewife by Elizabeth Raffald, which was first published in 1769. Raffald was an impressively busy woman. She worked as a housekeeper for 15 years before moving to Manchester. There, she ran a confectioner's shop, where round plum cakes were part of the daily offering to customers.

Saffron cakes have traditionally been made in Devon and Cornwall, especially around Easter when they are eaten with clotted cream on Good Friday.

This recipe comes from Hannah Glasse's 1747 book, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. Fortified wine, known as "sack", was used in the original recipe. Sack was like a dry sherry, which serves as an excellent modern equivalent.

This fatless sponge comes from The Practice of Cookery, Pastry and Confectionery and was first published in Edinburgh in 1791.

The original recipe comes from a notebook kept by the Morton family who ran a bakery in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, between 1890 and 1912.

Figgy brack is an easy-to-make rustic classic. This particular recipe is a variation on the traditional Irish brack, a rich moist heavily fruited cross between a cake and a type of bread.

This is a delicious, light gateau with a Japonais (almond meringue) base, filled with a smooth chocolate filling made of ganache and swiss meringue. This simple recipe makes seven gateaux of 7in/180mm in diameter.