Almond Parcel Cake

For the cake: heat the oven to 180°C (160° fan) 350°F gas 4. Line the base and sides of a 20cm|8" square cake tin with non-stick baking paper.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add the almonds, sugar, butter and eggs and beat well with an electric whisk or wooden spoon until smooth.

Spoon into the tin and bake for about 25 minutes, until well risen and firm to the touch. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack to become cold.

Trim the crisp edges from the cake. Slice off the raised top of the cake to leave a perfectly flat square.

Cut the cake into 4 squares. Spread 3 squares with the jam and sandwich the layers together.

For the decoration: lightly dust a surface with cornflour and roll out the sugarpaste to a square large enough to cover the cake.

Brush the cake all over with apricot jam and carefully position the sugarpaste on the cake. Press the top and sides, smoothing the sugarpaste with your hands, until the cake is covered and there are no air bubbles. Trim any excess sugarpaste from the base of the cake.

For the bow and ribbon: sift a little icing sugar over a surface and knead the marzipan and food colouring together until the colour is even.

Roll out the marzipan on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Cut 2 strips of marzipan to fit crosswise on the cake. Brush them very lightly with a little water and attach to the cake.

For the bow: Form 2 loops from some of the remaining marzipan and attach to the centre of the cake with a little water. Attach a small strip in the centre of the loops to form the bow.

Cut 2 more strips of marzipan, one shorter than the other to form the rest of the bow and attach just underneath the bow with a little water.