Bread & butter pudding with pecan maple topping

This pudding has been around forever and there have been many different variations over the years. Recipes often include spice, but I have added a lovely nutty glaze instead. It’s best to use a wide dish rather than a deep one. Immediately spoon the topping over the pudding and serve …...Read More

Lemon posset tart with fresh raspberries

Simple to make, this delicious lemon tart is set in the fridge, not baked. It is quite deep, so it’s best made in a loose-bottomed sandwich tin, as for a Victoria sponge. Decorate with raspberries and dust with icing sugar. Serve sliced into wedges with some pouring cream if you …...Read More

EATING OUT: Tom Parker Bowles & Olly Smith

For a reliably refined flavour of France, Tom heads to a favourite haunt Familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt. In fact, when it comes to my favourite restaurants, the opposite is invariably true. Sometimes, I know exactly what I want to eat, and exactly where to eat it. Where consistency trumps …...Read More

Fashion: Clean Cuts

Seriously slick tailoring for the ultimate in back-to-school cool Soft grey was a catwalk favourite for autumn and looks great tailored into a loose, modern cut. Keep it casual with a white shirt and trainers. Jacket, £54.99, shirt, £19.99, trousers, £39.99, and trainers, £34.99, reserved.com. Sunglasses, £345, victoriabeckham.com. Bag, £284, …...Read More

Coffee & hazelnut praline cake

An impressive special-occasion cake – not one for everyday. Serves 6-8 Prepare ahead Can be assembled and iced up to a day ahead and decorated with the praline up to 8 hours before serving. Sit the second cake on top and spread with the remaining buttercream, then sprinkle over the …...Read More

Mary's best bakes

In this second helping from her brilliant new book, our favourite TV cook serves up tasty new takes on classic cakes and puddings The ultimate comfort pud: Brioche frangipane apple pudding Our recipes are from Simple Comforts by Mary Berry, which will be published on 17 September by BBC Books, …...Read More

As moving as Kes... the tale of how troubled Charlie Gilmour was healed by a thieving magpie

Featherhood Charlie Gilmour W&N £16.99 Rating: Like many children, Charlie Gilmour never had much success with goldfish and hamsters and mice. ‘No matter what you do, it seems like they always end up in the same place: a shoebox at the bottom of a shallow grave.’ Charlie with his pet …...Read More

DEBORAH ROSS: Did ANY BBC documentary makers not go to Oxbridge?

Sue Perkins: Along The US-Mexico Border Monday & Tuesday, BBC1 Rating: Louis Theroux: Life On The Edge Sunday, BBC2 Rating: The Romantics And Us With Simon Schama Friday, BBC2 Rating: Everyone is always having a go at the BBC for one reason or another, yet I’m rarely among them as …...Read More

Author Robert Harris blasts back at the woke warriors

'This is a hill worth dying on,' says the best-selling thriller writer Robert Harris, defending his right to create a character of any colour or gender, whatever the woke warriors may say. 'We have to have the artistic freedom to imagine and write about other sexes, other times. I think …...Read More

Sleepless review: This heroic venture in a theatrical desert well deserves a visit

Sleepless Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre Until September 27, 2hrs 20mins Rating: Hats off to the producers. This is the first fully staged musical since lockdown. It’s easy, relaxed entertainment – a weepy in Wembley – though you’ll need to wear a mask and sit in a sparsely populated auditorium. Sleepless …...Read More