Fancy a culinary blast from the past? Feeling nostalgic for those carefree primary school days? Then these classic school bakes will bring you right back to the good old days.

In this article, I will share my top three primary school bakes, including sprinkle cake, cornflake tart, and banoffee pie!

The first recipe I will be sharing is for the classic sprinkle cake that adorned every primary school dinner table. The vanilla sponge, water icing, and sprinkles make this cake the epitome of simplicity and will always provide delicious comfort. This particular recipe is adapted from Good Food.

School-days sprinkle sponge

By Cassie Best

Ingredients:

• 200g butter, softened, plus extra for the tin
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 200g self-raising flour
• 50ml milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g icing sugar
• sprinkles

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter a 20 x 30cm cake tin and line with baking parchment.
2. Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk for a few minutes until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, flour, milk and vanilla and beat again until you have a smooth batter.
4. Put the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 mins.
5. Mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thick icing. Spread the icing over the cooled cake, then top with lots of sprinkles.
6. Leave for at least 1 hr to set. Cut into squares and serve with hot custard.

Next, I decided to share with you my favourite recipe for cornflake tart. As a traditional northern dessert, cornflake tart has a special place in my heart; that crunchy topping with the sweet jam and the excessive amount of custard is just to die for. This recipe adapted from Baking Mad includes the instructions for making your own pastry, but I’m sure nobody would complain if you decided to use shop-bought.

Easy Cornflake Tart

Ingredients:

For the pastry

• 180g plain flour
• 80g unsalted butter
• 30ml water (cold)

For the filling

• 135g golden syrup
• 65g butter (unsalted)
• 30g dark muscovado sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 100g cornflakes
• 100g strawberry jam

Method:

1. Place the flour and butter in a food processor and blitz until the mixture becomes like breadcrumbs. Then add water and blitz until you have a soft dough.
2. Turn out onto a floured surface and bring it together with your hands. Wrap in cling film and chill the pastry for about an hour.
3. Roll out the chilled pastry and line the tin. Don’t trim the pastry and leave it to chill for another 30 minutes.
4. Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan.
5. Line the pastry with baking parchment and fill it with baking beans. Bake blind for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and the beans.
6. Quickly and carefully trim the edges and return the pastry case to the oven to dry out for 5-10 more minutes.
7. When cooked, remove from the oven, and allow to rest while you make the filling.
8. Melt the butter, syrup, sugar, and salt in a large pan for the filling. Once it is completely melted, stir in the cornflakes.
9. Spread the jam over the base of the pastry case and then top with the cornflake mixture and gently spread out evenly.
10. Put the tart back in the oven for another 5 minutes, then leave to one side to harden slightly before serving.

Finally, I have decided to share a recipe for banoffee pie which was a personal favourite at my school. Every other week I would go into school knowing it would be a good day as my friends and I would rush into the canteen to get to the best slices of this absolute delight. This recipe is adapted from Carnation, but I’m not sure if anything could top the one served at my school.

Classic Banoffee Pie

Ingredients:

• 100g butter, melted
• 225g digestive biscuits, crushed
• 75g butter
• 75g dark brown sugar
• 397g Carnation Condensed Milk
• 2 bananas
• 150ml double cream, whipped to soft peaks
• Chocolate shavings, to dust

Method:

1. Place the digestive biscuits in a food processor and blitz until fine.
2. Put the biscuit crumbs in a bowl and mix with the melted butter.
3. Press the mixture into the tin and chill for 10 minutes.
4. Place 75g butter and sugar into a heavy-based, non-stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring all the time until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Add the condensed milk and bring it to a rapid boil for about a minute, stirring all the time for a thick golden caramel.
6. Spread the caramel over the base, cool and then chill for 1 hour.
7. Carefully remove the pie from the tin and place it on a serving plate.
8. Slice the bananas and place them on top of the caramel, top with the softly whipped cream. Dust with cocoa powder or use grated chocolate to decorate the banoffee pie for the perfect finishing touch.
9. Chill until ready to serve.

Featured Image: Mikael Wiman on flickr with licence.