Though famed for much else - including slow hand-clapping the Prime Minister - Women's Institute members are still recognised as Britain's finest cake makers. Helen Peacocke meets a WI kitchen star

Although this article aims to celebrate the extraordinary cooking skills of Women's Institute members, it must be stressed that this organisation, which began life in 1915, is not just famed for its home-made jams, pickles and cakes. The WI is the largest voluntary organisation for women in the UK. Its members' support for British agriculture and provision of school nurses runs parallel with other social issues on their campaigning agenda. The organisation exists to educate women and enable them to play a positive and effective role in the community. It's also there to expand members' horizons and help them develop skills which can be passed on.

If you want evidence that the WI is both trendy and politically active, you only have to remember the saucy calendar produced by the members from Rylstone and District WI, which raised more than £600,000 for charity, or that powerful slow hand-clap Tony Blair once endured. WI members go way beyond the kitchen sink in their gallant attempt to make their mark on the world.

That said, the WI's reputation for home cooking is second to none, which is why it's great to find that they have brought out a selection of six new cookery books. As one has been written by an Oxfordshire woman who works at Denman College, the WI residential adult education college at Marcham, it cried out to be featured on this page.

Jill Brand, who lives in Bicester, is more than qualified to have written Best-Kept Secrets of the Women's Institute Cakes & Biscuits (Simon & Schuster £7.99). Jill is the home economics adviser for the National Federation of Women's Institutes, and tutors at Denman College and nationally. She is also a fellow of the Institute of Consumer Science and a qualified cookery judge.

Her career began in London, where her job was designing cookers. Many being used today in the Denman College kitchens were designed by her, as she worked on both Belling and Creda brands. She also adores cooking, which is why putting this splendid book together gave her such such a pleasure.

There have been other cookery collections published by the WI, but Cakes & Biscuits, and the others in the series are the first to include mouth-watering photographs too. It also departs from tradition by including a substantial introduction which provides a guide to perfect baking and a weights and measures conversion chart.

Jane believes that this section is invaluable, particularly for first-time cooks who need to know why a cake didn't rise evenly, or why the biscuits, stored in a tin before they had cooled, turned soggy. She knows how fragile that learning curve can be when you begin cake making and just how easy it is to become despondent when things don't turn out as you expect them to.

How many modern cooks know that the cake mixture should be placed in the oven as soon as the ingredients are mixed - especially if you have used baking powder which begins working as a raising agent as soon as it comes into contact with moisture? And how many cakes have been spoiled because the oven door was opened during the early stages of cooking?

All these things are addressed in her introduction, from first-hand knowledge Jill has acquired over the years. She says that these are things that used to be handed down from one generation to the next.

"But granny is not round the corner any more and mum is not always baking cakes when children arrive home from school," she says. " The Women's Institute is trying to encourage people to cook more, because with home cooking comes healthy eating and all those joys that come from pulling a freshly baked cake, made with quality ingredients, out of the oven. Even the aroma that fills the house as it's baking is special, and something that can excite the entire family."

She often demonstrates outside Denman and takes evening cookery courses for men at her local college. She notes her students' surprise at discovering how cheaply they can cook at home. "The difference in cost between a cake you have bought and one you have cooked yourself is considerable."

Those looking for a cake with a difference will be delighted to discover that her recipes often feature unusual ingredients such as ready-to-eat dried mango, and papaya and cherry-flavoured ale.

The classic Victoria sponge sandwich is there - no cake book could possibly miss that one out - but she has also added an apricot, polenta and ricotta cake and a cardamom and lemon cake. There is an entire chapter devoted to the pleasure of chocolate, which features 17 cakes and cookies which she is confident will satisfy the most avid chocoholic - even those who want their wedding cake to be made from the stuff. Her cappuccino bars (chocolate bars with coffee flavouring and milk chocolate icing) are so scrumptious and easy to make that one batch will never be enough once the family have tasted them.

Other books in this series include Puddings & Desserts by Sian Cook, Soups by Grace Mulligan and Dilwen Phillips, and Jams, Pickles and Chutneys by Midge Thomas. These, too, have an introductory chapter explaining the basic techniques, as well as a metric conversion chart. They would make a wonderful gift for any would-be cook who needs a kick- start and a few basic recipes to help them gain confidence.

Published in The Oxford Times, October 4, 2002