Live webchat with Mary Berry - Tues 21 May 10-11am

Your new recipes all now have butter which has been softened. Can we use all your "old" recipes which say soft margarine and substitute softened butter? Your books nearly fill one shelf and my first book of yours is Marry Berry Cooking at Home which I think I bought in 1983!!

Hi Mary
Sonce he retired my husband has taken over the cooking and is one of your biggest fans. He usually turns to your Complete Cook Book for the times when recipes are needed.

However, most of your savoury dishes seem to contain garlic and I have a garlic intolerance. Is there anything he could use instead? He usually just leaves it out but often it leaves the dish with the feeling of needing just that something extra.

(Oh, and would you consider leading a bring back the bun campaign? These new fangled cup cakes are all puff, wind and mock icing)

Hi Mary
I like to make my own bread. Should I use oil or not in my recipe? Would oil make the bread last longer?

I make a wicked rich chocolate cake Mary, but have a problem with either the timing or the temp. The recipe says to have the oven at 180C/350F/Gas 4. Mine is a fan oven, so usually have it at 160C. Then says to divide the cake batter between two sandwich tins and bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes. If I follow that, the cake is too dense and if I bake it for a longer time, it gets too hard around the edges. Please have you any advice?

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/easy_chocolate_cake_31070

What sort of granny are you? Do you cook much with your grandchildren or is it a bit of a busman's holiday? And if you do - do you let them lick the spoon? I panic about raw eggs (not that it ever did us any harm)

Thank you so much - I love all your books and look forward to this new one

Mary, why do the cherries sink to the bottom when I bake a cherry cake and what can I do to prevent this disaster?

Do I correctly recall you stating that you were a fan of soft margarine for cakes? It is so much easier when creaming with sugar or stirring an all-in-one mix. Is there a noticable taste difference?
I absolutely love the Bake Off, and even the grandchildren have 'soggy bottom' and 'moist' in their vocabulary ! I remember baking most of the featured recipes when my family was young, but not always with the success achieved by the contestants! Are you surprised at the current popularity of baking which you and Paul Hollywood have brought about?

When I make a Victoria sponge, the cakes rise well, but on the top they have what I can only describe as "blisters", rather than a nice smooth surface - can you help please?

Hi Mary, How exciting having this chance to "talk" to you, its just a quick question, having lost 2 stone in weight with a well known slimming club, at the group everyone raves about fat free chips, no matter how I make them, they still seem substandard to what I would expect, brown one side and white the other...!!! Nothing like my mums, in the old days, using a chip pan with lard, and any fats from the Sunday Roasts.....!!! Also have you any future plans for producing a fat free/ healthy eating cookery book? Kindest Regards Pam

Hello Mary - I am so excited about having the chance to 'talk' to you!!! Can I ask you a question about salmon? I recently bought a side (on offer in Tesco!) and wanted to bake it in foil in the oven - but then had a panic about it being raw in the middle so chopped it into fillets and cooked individually

Can you advise me on how long I should cook a side or even a whole salmon in foil in the oven and at what temperature (fan)? And is it really true you can cook salmon in the dishwasher?! Thank you so much - book looks brilliant - off to preorder!

My grandchildren have been turned on to baking by the Bake Off.

Why do you think suddenly it is trendy for men to bake cakes? Do you think there is a change coming even if it is slow? My mum always baked cakes and Dad made bread.

Hi Mary
Do you ever use a microwave oven? Are there any tips you can give for using a microwave oven in baking processes, please?
Loved the Bake Off with you and Paul Hollywood!