Having watched London based Spanish Omar Allibhoy make his impressive Ensaimada Mallorquina earlier, Paul decided to impress Omar with a British bake that is not very far away from his Spanish counterpart’s version.

Paul baked his version of the traditional lardy cake. A lardy cake is a English tea bread enriched with lard, sugar, spices and dried fruit. It originates from Wiltshire and is commonly found throughout the West Country. Historically, lardy cakes were celebration cakes and only made during special occasions as sugar, spices and dried fruits were considered luxuries.

To make his lardy cake Paul put flour into a large mixing bowl then add salt to one side and the yeast to the other. He then mixed everything together then rubbed in the lard. He then adds water and mix to form a dough.

The dough is removed from the bowl and put onto a lightly floured work surface and kneaded until the dough was smooth. It was then place in a clean bowl and left to rise for 3-4 hours.

The dough is then tipped onto a lightly floured work surface and pressed with fingers to flatten out into a rectangle. It is then scattered with lard to cover two thirds of the dough and sprinkled with sugar over the lard. The sugar is then covered with dried fruit. The uncovered section is then brought over into the centre, and the other third was then placed on top.

The dough was rolled into a large rectangle and the edge pressed with his fingers. The dough is rolled into a long sausage shape, then cut down its entire length to form two long strips and reveal the fruit inside.

The pieces are held firmly at each end and twist together. He then coiled the twisted dough together into a circle and pressed the ends firmly together.

It was then transferred to a baking tin and left to prove until it reached the top of the tin.

It was baked in a preheated to 200C/400F/Gas 6 for about 30 minutes.