My British friend Pete Brown, who recently published a book about the uniqueness of British food, says that crumble is typically British because it's warm and comforting, a feeling that the British look to create with their iconic dishes. It's also incredibly easy to prepare and it's quite subdued but silently proud. It is Britain in a nutshell, or rather, in a ceramic dish.

Ingredients

For the crumble topping:

85g wholemeal wheat or spelt flour

60g traditional rolled oats or spelt flakes

50g raw sugar

handful of slivered almonds

pinch of sea salt

80g butter, at room temperature

butter, for greasing

flour, for dusting

For the filling:

300g red apples (e.g. cox or boskoop, or a combination of the two), cubed

30g butter

30g white sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

200g blackberries

Method

For a 12 x 18 cm ovenproof dish

Preheat your oven to 190C and grease the dish with butter.

Combine the flour, oats or spelt, sugar, almonds and salt and rub in the butter. Put the topping in the freezer while you prepare the filling.

Stew the apples for five minutes with the butter, sugar, cinnamon and two or three of the blackberries for colour. Spoon the filling into the dish, then sprinkle the raw blackberries over the top.

Roughly crumble the topping over the fruit. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the crumble is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling wonderfully.

Serve the crumble with vanilla ice cream or with Greek yoghurt, skyr or clotted cream. Custard is a classic combination with crumble.

I like to make too much and eat the leftovers for breakfast the next day!

For four people.

Carrot cake is loved by young and old. It has its origins in the Middle Ages, when sugar and honey were far too expensive to use lavishly. In those days, carrots were considered a sweet food. During the Second World War, many carrot cakes were made in Great Britain because there was a surplus of carrots. Carrots are, of course, very healthy, which is why the Ministry of Food promoted cooking with carrots and a special leaflet with carrot dishes was distributed. Children became fond of carrots and were even given a thick carrot on a stick instead of a lollipop as the latter were not available during the war.

I like to use wholemeal flour for this cake, because it gives the cake more body and it works well with the rest of the ingredients. Although carrot cake is often made with cream cheese icing or buttercream, I love it with this cashew nut topping because the nuts go beautifully with the carrots and spices in the cake. Feel free to use cream cheese icing or buttercream if you prefer.

Ingredients

For the cake:

250ml extra virgin olive oil

225g raw sugar

4 eggs

300g wholemeal wheat flour or spelt flour

grated zest of 1/2 orange

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground ginger

5 large cloves, ground

pinch of pepper and sea salt

400g carrots, grated

2 tsp baking powder

100g pecans or walnuts, broken

butter, for greasing

flour, for dusting

For the topping:

200g cashews, soaked overnight in cold water or in hot water for one to two hours

2 tbsp maple syrup or golden syrup

pinch of sea salt

100g Greek yoghurt, skyr or coconut yoghurt

unsalted pistachio nuts or marzipan carrots

Method

For two 18-20cm round cake tins

Start with the topping. Drain the cashews and pat dry with paper towel. Place in a food processor or blender, add the syrup and blend until smooth. Add the salt and yoghurt and blend until smooth and creamy. Spoon into a small bowl and place in the fridge.

Preheat your oven to 180C and prepare the tins.

For the cake, beat the oil and sugar together in an electric mixer for five minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a teaspoon of flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from separating.

Add the orange zest, spices and salt, followed by the grated carrot. Mix well with a spatula. Mix in the remaining flour and the baking powder until the batter is well combined. Finally, stir in the nuts.

Divide the batter between the two tins. Firmly tap the tins on the bench to distribute the batter and remove any air bubbles.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 35-40 minutes, then test the cakes with a skewer - if it comes out clean, the cakes are ready.

Allow the cakes to cool completely before assembling. If you've made the cakes a day ahead, place them in the fridge one hour before decorating.

Spread or pipe one-third of the topping over the bottom cake layer. Add the second cake layer and spread the rest of the topping over the cake. Decorate with whole and chopped pistachio nuts or marzipan carrots. Place the cake in the refrigerator after assembly if you're not serving it immediately.

Before you bake:

Unless the recipe indicates a different method, the following techniques should be used to prepare the different baking tins. By preparing the baking tins in the correct way, your cake will come out of the tin more easily after baking.

Round tin: Apply a thin layer of butter with a folded sheet of paper towel and divide it nicely around the edge of the baking tin. Apply a layer of baking paper to the bottom of the baking tin: trace around the tin onto the baking paper, then cut out the circle. Stick the baking paper to the butter so that the paper stays in place. Dust the lined tin with flour, hold the tin above your workbench or sink and tap on the bottom to remove the excess flour.

For 6-8 people.

Chelsea buns were sold in The Chelsea Bun House in London as far back as 1711. They may be considered the first sweet confection that people ever queued for in masses, just to get their hands on a bun or two. It might not be as modern as a cronut or a freakshake, but the Chelsea bun managed to live through the ages without being forgotten along the way. Today it is still the bun you see most frequently sold in bakeries, although it's getting some competition from the Scandinavian cinnamon bun.

Chelsea buns are made from a rich yeast dough and must have a square shape, with a circular spiral dotted with currants. The pleasure of unrolling them while you eat them and tearing the dough is addictive. The size of the baking tins is important to ensure that the buns touch one another and push each other into a square shape. The trick to making the best Chelsea bun is to roll out the pastry as thinly as you can manage.

Ingredients

For the buns:

30g dried yeast

600ml lukewarm milk

1kg strong white bread flour

120g raw sugar or white sugar

140g butter, at room temperature, cubed

2 eggs, beaten

10g fine sea salt

flour, for dusting

For the filling:

450g butter, at room temperature

285g raw sugar or white sugar

3 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of fine sea salt

350g currants

For the sugar syrup:

60g raw sugar or white sugar

5 tbsp water

caster sugar, for sprinkling

Method

For two 39 x 27 cm baking tins.

Add the yeast to the lukewarm milk and stir briefly and gently to activate it. The yeast will start to foam up in clusters, which means it is ready for use. Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and put the butter on top. Pour half of the yeast mixture over the butter and start kneading. When the milk and butter are completely absorbed, add the rest of the yeast mixture, along with the eggs.

Knead the dough for five minutes, then let it stand for a few minutes (at this point the dough will be very wet). Add the salt and knead for 10 minutes, scraping the dough off the dough hook and side of the bowl if needed, until the dough has come together in a smooth and elastic dough that is not too dry but also not terribly wet.

Cover the dough and set aside for one hour until it has doubled in quantity.

Meanwhile, make the filling by whipping the butter with the sugar, cinnamon and salt until creamy.

Preheat your oven to 200C and line the baking tins with baking paper.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a rectangle that's about 60 x 95cm and 2mm thick (or as thin as possible). Place the dough in front of you horizontally. Cover the top half with a third of the filling, then fold the bottom half over the filling. Roll over the dough with a rolling pin to flatten it out.

Spread the whole surface of the dough with the remaining filling, dot with the currants and roll up lengthways to make a long roll. Cut the roll into 5cm slices and place in the baking tins with the spiral facing upwards and a little space in between each bun. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the buns are golden brown.

Prepare the syrup while the buns are baking by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar has dissolved. Brush the buns with the sugar syrup as soon as they come out of the oven and sprinkle with caster sugar. The buns are best eaten on the day they're made, but they can be revived in a hot oven for a few minutes the next day or you can freeze the baked buns, thaw and then pop them in a hot oven for a few minutes.

For 24 buns.

This Tea loaf is a Bara brith without yeast - a more modern version of the Welsh cake. The result is a wonderfully moist cake that stays good for days and only gets better with time. It is heavenly when spread with some good butter. This cake is a favourite with my family and friends.

Ingredients

175g currants

80g raisins

250ml hot strong English tea

260g plain flour

110g raw sugar

120g soft brown sugar

1/2 tsp mixed spice

50g candied citrus peel

15g baking powder

1 egg

butter, for greasing

flour, for dusting

Method

For a 900g loaf tin

Put the currants and raisins in a large bowl. Pour in the hot tea and leave to soak overnight.

Preheat your oven to 150C and prepare the loaf tin.

Add the flour, sugars, mixed spice, candied peel, baking powder and egg to the bowl of soaked currants and raisins and mix well. Spoon into the tin.

Bake the loaf in the lower part of the oven for one-and-a-half hours. Check the loaf after one hour and cover with foil if it threatens to get too dark.

Serve the loaf with butter.

For 6-10 people.