You might already know that Mary Berry ’s favourite cake is a Victoria sponge (made using the all-in-one method, please – she doesn’t see the point of creaming the ingredients separately).

But her culinary wisdom doesn’t end there. Far from it. She whacks some butter in with her stewed apples , a process I’ve since nicked, and puts Thai curry paste in her tomato soup (I stole that, too).

And recently, speaking at a Q&A in The Castle Hotel, Windsor, while promoting her new book Mary 90: My Very Best Recipes, the former Great British Bake-Off judge explained her two rules for perfect bakes.

These are:

1) Weigh your ingredients carefully

“The main thing about baking is to... weigh the ingredients,” the baking legend said.

You should ideally do this “with digital scales”, she n

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