Rose & pistachio cacen enest (‘window cake’), p12

From the ages of three to 14, my mother ran a café, from April to October, in the front room of our house in the tourist village of Llanberis in North Wales. Mam would make fabulous sponges, but my father and I loved a shop-bought battenberg – or a cacen ffenest as we call it – meaning ‘window cake’ in Welsh. I inherited my mother’s love for cooking but it’s only recently that I made a cacen ffenest and was surprised by how easy it is to make. I experimented with flavours and came up with this lovely rose and pistachio version that not only tastes delicious, but looks so pretty. An afternoon tea should look as good as it tastes, and this cake would be an ideal one to serve.