Even if it’s not someone’s birthday, I’ll jump at the chance to whip up a multi-tiered ... fruit curd—like lemon or raspberry—in the middle layer would take this Ina Garten chocolate ...

All of these are available from specialist cake shops. For the 25cm/10in cake, bake the fruit cake according to the recipe. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool. For the 22cm/8½in ...

Pour the hot jam through a sieve into a bowl, pressing any fruit pieces through to extract the liquid, then leave until warm before using. If the cakes have peaked in the middle during baking you ...