Mum's cornflake cracklet cakes

Thank you to the genius who discovered that cornflakes and chocolate were heaven together. Every birthday, I thank them, and my mother, who made sure they were present at every party. The combination of crunchy flakes, syrup and cocoa creates a softly chewy biscuit/cake hybrid which is so fab that I've never made them without someone asking for the recipe.

You'll mostly need store cupboard ingredients to turn out a perfect batch, which is particularly useful if your kids come home and announce it's bake sale, sports day, or someone's birthday tomorrow and it will be the end of the world if they don't have a tray of cakes to carry proudly aloft on the walk into school. Even better, they are ridiculously easy to make, so tell them it's not a problem, but they'll have to make the cakes themselves...

Three generations of our family now make these, each adding their own twists. My daughter favours the addition of sprinkles and glitter, while Mum pours the whole recipe into a small cake tin, so that when it sets you can cut it like a biscuit or fridge cake. Makes 12 small cakes or one round.

120g butter

4 tbsp icing sugar

4tbsp golden syrup

3 tbsp cocoa powder

120g cornflakes

Melt the butter, icing sugar and syrup together but don't let it boil. Remove from the heat, add the cocoa and mix in gently. Fold in the cornflakes until completely covered. Pour into small paper cupcake cases or a greased and lined 19 inch sandwich tin. Leave to set in fridge before serving.