LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE

Zingy: Ready-made winner, left THE original recipe is another supersimple Mary method from her Ultimate Cake Book: stick all the ingredients in a bowl, stir together and bake. Annoyingly, despite her promises, the sugary topping sinks into the warm cake, meaning mine lacks the lovely crunchy cap of its factory-made rival.

When it comes to the ready-made version, Mary apparently felt that ‘freshness, zestiness’ and a good texture were the most important things to get right — and I am jealous of its enticingly sugary top. Luckily, a blindfolded Juliet can’t see it!

JULIET’S VERDICT: The shop cake has a lovely, light crumbly texture and a natural, zingy lemon flavour. I really like the sugary topping, too. The homemade version is denser and needs more lemon coming through.

WINNER: Shop-bought.