Hairy Bikers Recipes

This Hairy Bikers eccles cakes recipe comes from their Perfect Pies cookbook, and it makes 10 to 12 little currant pastries. Each one is about 250 calories, and the whole batch is done in 45 minutes. The same recipe also appears word for word in their Mums Know Best book, so they clearly trust it. …

Wrapped in pleated paper and foil, twisted at the ends like a Christmas cracker, the Hairy Bikers jam roly poly bakes inside its own parcel. What comes out is a risen suet sponge with jam spiralled through every slice. British Classics keeps it to “simple store-cupboard ingredients”, just flour, suet, sugar, milk and jam. Si …

A custard tart is the plainest bake in the British repertoire, and the Hairy Bikers custard tart keeps it that way on purpose. Crisp pastry, silky vanilla cream and a roof of grated nutmeg, and nothing else gets in. Brilliant Bakes jokes that it is “much too good for throwing at anybody”, a wink at …

Rhubarb and custard usually means a bowl and a jug, but this Hairy Bikers rhubarb and custard tart rebuilds the pairing in pastry. Each of the eight slices carries about 590 calories from British Classics, and the fridge handles most of the four and a half hours. The book calls this “a tart to be …

Proper rice pudding needs a brown skin on top, and this Hairy Bikers recipe grows one in the oven. Brilliant Bakes gives it two and a half hours at low heat, so six servings cost about 370 calories and almost no effort. Si writes that his mam “made proper rice pudding like this, always with …

Four egg whites become a crisp shell with a soft middle in this Hairy Bikers pavlova, so the texture is the whole point. Mums Still Know Best serves six with cream and berries, at about 530 calories in two and a half hours. “Is it from New Zealand? Is it from Australia? Who cares? It …

Brioche takes the place of plain bread in this Hairy Bikers bread and butter pudding, and raspberries with orange zest lift it further. British Classics serves six from one dish at about 760 calories, in around 90 minutes. “We think this is one of the all-time great British puds,” the book says, “and we’re pretty …

Dates make this Hairy Bikers sticky toffee pudding what it is, because 200g of them melt right into the dark sponge. The recipe comes from British Classics, serves eight at about 560 calories, and is ready in 50 minutes. The book calls it “the greatest of Cumbrian classics” and recommends it for a rainy winter …

Clotted cream and fresh strawberries fill this Hairy Bikers victoria sponge, so it eats like a summer dessert. The recipe sits in Brilliant Bakes at about 460 calories a slice, and takes 85 minutes plus cooling. “We doff our caps to the WI for this one,” the book says, “they know what makes a good …