In celebration of my first 'Ciao birthday', here are three of my favourite tray-bake cake recipes. They're all straightforward and reasonably adaptable, and I hope this gives something for every taste.

Please note that the metric and imperial measurements aren't exact equivalents so sometimes they vary between cakes, but they're all tried and tested for each recipe. Use just one set of measurements each time.

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Firstly a favourite in our household in the lemon season. If you serve it as a cake, you'll need forks and/or napkins as the lemon topping makes it quite messy to eat with fingers. It can also be served as a dessert with ice cream or thick Greek yogurt. I usually make double quantities of this when we have guests (yes, it does seem like a huge amount of mixture!) and cook it in a roasting pan, but I wouldn't recommend doing that until you've tried it once or twice and like the results.

• LEMON BAKE •

(makes about 12-16 pieces)

++ Ingredients
175g/6oz margarine
175g/6oz sugar
2 large eggs
225g/8 oz self-raising flour
2 tablespoons milk (or soya milk, or rice milk...)
grated rind of 1 lemon

++ Topping:
4-6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
125g/4 oz sugar

++ Easy method:
Put all the cake ingredients in a food processor or mixer, and beat until mixed. Now go down to the part headed 'Finally'.

++ Hand method:
Soften the margarine slightly, then mix it with the sugar using a wooden spoon in a large mixing bowl. ('Creaming' is the technical term).

Break one of the eggs into the mixture, and mix it in well. Add in a couple of tablespoons of the flour and the grated lemon rind, then the other egg, and beat again.

Now switch to a large metal tablespoon and very gently stir in the rest of the flour ('folding' is the correct term here) until it's mixed. Don't be tempted to beat it at this stage. Stir in one tablespoon of the milk.

++ Finally
Take a spoonful of the mixture, then hold it over the bowl and see how easily it falls. If it all sticks to the spoon, or falls as a single hard lump then it needs some extra liquid, so add in another tablespoon or so of milk, and stir again.

Put all the mixture into a well-greased cake tin or pyrex dish of about 25 x 20cm (or 11 x 7 inches) and bake in the oven at around 180C (350F) until it's firm. It takes around half an hour, usually.

While it's still hot, and still in the baking dish, mix the lemon juice with the sugar for the topping in a small jug. Spoon this evenly all over the cake, and then leave it to cool. Cut into squares.

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Now an American favourite that's unbelievably easy. Unfortunately it's not particularly cheap, and it's extremely high in calories. But so much more tasty than the ready-made brownies that you can buy at the supermarket.

• ONE-BOWL BROWNIES •

(Makes about 16-24)

++ Ingredients:
60g/2 oz plain chocolate
~~~~~(cooking chocolate is fine, but Bournville is better)
180g/6 oz butter
450g/1lb sugar
3 medium eggs
120g/4 oz plain flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
~~~~~(real stuff not artificial. Omit it if you don't have the real version, or substitute a sachet of vanilla sugar)

++ Method:
Use a biggish bowl that can be used in the microwave. Put the chocolate and butter in, and heat on high for about 30 seconds. Stir it, and then heat another 30 seconds or so. The butter should melt fairly quickly, and then you can stir some more to make sure all the chocolate has melted. Don't heat for too long or the chocolate will burn and taste awful.

If you don't have a microwave you could put the bowl over a large saucepan about quarter filled with hot water. Simmer it gently over a low heat and stir the mixture occasionally until the butter and chocolate are melted. However this is rather a slow process unless it's a hot day and I much prefer to use the microwave.

Once the butter and chocolate are reasonably runny, stir in the sugar, eggs and essence, then mix in the flour with a wooden spoon. Spread it in a greased dish or tin of approx 30cm x 20cm (or 13 x 9 inches - the exact dimensions aren't vital). Bake at around 180C (350F) for around half an hour. When cooked the top should be firm, but the inside should still be quite moist.

Cool, then cut into squares and enjoy!

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Finally a nice healthy recipe full of iron and B-vitamins - but you don't need to tell your family that! Go easy on the ginger to start with unless you know everybody likes it. This is cake-style gingerbread rather than the biscuit type that can be cut into little people. This recipe keeps so well that the quantities below are fairly large, but if you're not sure about it you could always halve the ingredients and cook it in a smaller pan.

• FRUIT GINGERBREAD •

(makes about 24-36 pieces)

++ Ingredients
450g/1lb plain flour
~~~ (Don't use self-raising flour here. However you can substitute half of it for wholemeal or spelt flour, and then you can also substitute a tablespoon of soya flour and/or rice flour for a tablespoon of plain flour depending on preferences or tastes)
2-4 level teaspoon ginger
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 level teaspoon salt
100g/4 oz sultanas
200g/8 oz soft brown sugar
150g/4 oz margarine or butter
175g/6 oz molasses or black treacle
175g/6 oz golden syrup (or more molasses for a really healthy version!)
300ml milk (or soya milk)
2 eggs

++ Method:
Line a 40cm x 25cm (14 x 10 inch) dish such as a roasting pan with greased greaseproof paper.

Mix the flour with the ginger, bicarb and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the sultanas.

Put the sugar, butter, treacle and syrup a saucepan, and heat gently until melted together. Or use a jug in the microwave, but be careful as the syrup can get extremely hot.

Warm the milk - this is easiest in the microwave - and beat in the eggs.

You now have three sets of ingredients - yes, this makes a lot of washing up. Sorry.

First pour the butter/syrup mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and mix together. Then stir in the milk and egg. Pour into the prepared pan. It feels a bit like making mud pies at this stage!

Bake at 170C for about 40 minutes or until cooked. Leave in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out to cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares when cold.