One of our advertising account managers, Alexander Bailey, is finding his baking confidence is on the rise since making Prima's Jubilee sponge. Brilliant isn't it? But after trying and failing to bake a Herman the German friendship cake, my baking confidence has been at an all-time low. I didn't think I'd be making a cake again any time soon but my husband bought a crate of cherries, and they were very ripe. Clafoutis. They were begging for me to turn them into a clafoutis.

I knew we had a Good Housekeeping recipe for clafoutis on allaboutyou, so I looked it up and went for it - it was a really simple recipe that I enjoyed throwing together.

When the clafoutis was supposed to be finished I took a look in the oven - it wobbled as I brought it out: that was exactly what Herman had done. And it was wet in the middle too. I felt such a failure. I called my husband for moral support and he actually gave very good practical support. He checked the ingredients and there's hardly any flour in there: a clafoutis is not really a cake - it's a set custard with fruit in it. And my husband reckoned it was as set as any custard was ever going to be. We sprinkled it with icing sugar and all tucked in - and it was okay.

The next day some friends popped in and I brought out the clafoutis and gave them some without taking any myself. They were oohing and ahhhing about it. And I tried a slice. It was not just okay, it was amazing! I don't think clafoutis should be eaten from the oven - it was wonderful at room temperature after a 12 hour wait! And my baking confidence is rising all the time (unlike Herman who never rose a bit, after all the attention I bestowed on him; ungrateful wretch). Bitter? Me? No!

PS I halved, stoned and froze the rest of the cherries in batches - making each batch 350g so that I could grab one anytime I wanted enough cherries for another clafoutis. You freeze cherries in a single layer and then pile them into a bag once frozen. And yes, I will be making another clafoutis. Might try my hand at Prima's raspberry clafoutis when the cherries run out. Herman, who needs you?!