Most weekday meals, at least in our house, end with a piece of fruit or a slice of cake. It may be a ripe white peach or a bowl of raspberries. It could be a bulging fig, a pear and a piece of Parmesan, or a plate of cherries with a slice of goat's cheese. Many is the time I have closed a meal with some fine chocolate or some shop-bought ice cream. There might be Turkish delight or possibly a handful or two of almonds I have tossed in sugar and left to caramelise in a shallow pan.
But sometimes there has to be pudding. A cheesecake, a trifle, a crumble or a meringue. Indulgent, wholly unnecessary food of a sweet and sugary kind. That ripe peach could be sliced and dropped into a glass of Muscat; the raspberries could be blitzed and used as a sauce for ice cream or strawberries. The figs could be baked with a glass of Marsala and some brown sugar. But sometimes, there just has to be pudding.
I like the idea of baking a banana in its skin till it blackens, splitting it open and squeezing a ripe passion fruit inside, just as I am all for a baked apple if the oven is on anyway. But there are other shortcuts too:
Bring a few glasses of red wine to the boil, add a tablespoon of sugar for each one and drop in about 400g blackberries. Cook for a few minutes till the fruit starts to soften, then eat warm.
Score some small apples around their middles and bake at 200°C/Gas 6 for 25 minutes or until they are soft. As they come from the oven, squeeze passion fruit juice and seeds over them. Serve with cream.
Peel 4 very ripe, soft bananas and whiz them in a food processor. Scrape into a bowl then fold in 150ml thick, sharp yogurt and an equal amount of very softly whipped double cream. Spoon into glasses and chill.
Make a chilled raspberry fool by putting 300g frozen raspberries into a food processor with 250ml double cream. Blitz briefly. You will have something between fool and ice cream.
Toast slices of panettone till golden. Spread generously with a mixture of mascarpone and softly whipped cream. Pile with blackberries, then dust with icing sugar.
Grate chocolate generously on to slices of brioche, then sandwich together. Toast on both sides in a shallow pan till the chocolate melts. Dust with icing sugar and eat. (Nutella works too, if you have no chocolate.)
Crush a mixture of raspberries and blackberries with a fork. Sweeten some softly whipped cream with a little icing sugar and vanilla extract. Toast some brioche or plain white bread till pale gold. Fold the crushed berries lightly through the cream in dark red streaks. Pile on to the crisp, warm toast.
Take 2 thin, crumbly oat or shortbread biscuits. Pile with vanilla ice cream, then add a scattering of dark chocolate smashed into thin shards. Put another biscuit on top of each and press together, lightly so as not to break the biscuits. Return briefly to the freezer before eating.
bananas, ginger biscuits, butter, double cream, white chocolate, cream cheese, vanilla, lemon
To make the crumb crust, melt 60g butter in a small saucepan and add 3 tablespoons of double cream. Crush 275g open-textured ginger biscuits in a food processor, then stir into the melted butter mixture. When all the crumbs are moist, set about 3 tablespoons of them aside, then tip the rest into a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin and smooth them gently, but avoid compacting them. You want a loose, crumbly crust.
To rake the filling, place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of the bowl. Break 200g white chocolate into small pieces and drop them into the bowl, leaving them, unstirred, to melt. As soon as the chocolate has melted, turn off the heat, pour in 200ml double cream and add a couple of drops of vanilla extract. Slowly stir the cream and chocolate together.
Tip 600g cream cheese into a bowl and fold the white chocolate and cream mixture into it. Scoop the filling on top of the crumb crust, smooth the surface level, then cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
To finish, peel and slice 3 bananas, toss them in the juice of a lemon, then pile them on top of the chilled cheesecake. Scatter over the reserved crumbs (if they have set, then simply break them up a bit first).
For 8. Creamy, vanilla scent, ginger crumbs.
strawberries, cucumbers, honey, mint, elderflower cordial
Put 3 tablespoons of honey, 10 mint leaves and 5 tablespoons of elderflower cordial into a blender and blitz to a thick, fragrant syrup. (If you don't have a blender, chop the mint very, very finely, mix it with the honey and cordial, then leave it for an hour. Strain through a fine sieve or muslin to remove the mint.)
Peel 2 medium cucumbers, slice them in half down their length, then scrape the seeds out with a teaspoon. Dice the flesh finely and put it in a large bowl. Remove the leaves from 450g strawberries, then slice the fruit in half and toss gently with the cucumber.
Pour the mint and elderflower syrup on to the fruit, stir very gently, then cover and leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes before serving.
For 4-6. The essence of summer, like Pimm’s on perfectly mown grass.
A thought
I know the salad opposite sounds extraordinary but it is the crispest, most refreshing fruit salad imaginable. The strawberries and cucumber work beautifully with the syrup. This is summer in a bowl.
More unusual salads
Peeled lychees tossed with raspberries.
Blackberries, raspberries and ripe blackcurrants.
Watermelon, loganberries and a syrup made from sugar, water and mint.
Peaches, raspberries, the faintest breath of rose water.
Mango and passion fruit, perfect partners.
dark chocolate, rolled oats, maple syrup, apricots, raspberries, elderflower cordial
Set the oven at 180°C/Gas 4. Chop 40g dark chocolate and mix it with 50g rolled oats and 5 tablespoons of maple syrup.
Halve and stone 6 apricots and place them in a shallow ovenproof pan. Trickle over 4 tablespoons of elderflower cordial. Let the liquid bubble over a moderate heat for 3 or 4 minutes, then add 150g raspberries.
Scatter the oat mixture over the fruit and bake for 20 minutes, till the fruit is soft and fragrant and the oats crisp.
For 3. Heady, crisp, luscious.
sponge fingers, Baileys Irish Cream, espresso coffee, hazelnuts, double cream, mascarpone, vanilla, dark chocolate
Put 100g sponge fingers into a serving bowl and pour over 150ml Baileys Irish Cream and 150ml strong espresso coffee. Leave to soak. Toast 100g skinned hazelnuts and chop them in half. Whip 200ml double cream to soft folds, then fold in 200g mascarpone cheese and most of the chopped hazelnuts. Spread the hazelnut mixture over the sponge fingers and refrigerate.
Softly whip another 200ml double cream, flavour it with a little vanilla extract or a knifepoint of vanilla seeds, then spread it over the hazelnut and mascarpone cream. Leave, covered, in the fridge for about an hour (20 minutes will do in a trifle emergency).
Scatter the remaining hazelnuts over the cream. Melt 35g dark chocolate in a small bowl set over a pan of simmering water, then trickle and splatter the chocolate over the surface of the cream. Refrigerate for a few minutes, till the chocolate goes crisp, then bring to the table.
For 6. Deep layers of bliss.
oats, butter, muscovado sugar, egg yolk, flour, baking powder, mascarpone, lemon curd
Set the oven at 180°C/Gas 4. Dice 120g softened butter and, using an electric mixer, beat with 120g muscovado sugar till light and creamy. Beat in an egg yolk. Mix in together 120g porridge oats or coarse rolled oats, 40g plain flour, half a teaspoon of baking powder and a generous pinch of sea salt.
Divide the mixture into 8-12 pieces, depending on how large you would like your cookies to be. Roll into balls, then flatten each one out into roughly the diameter of a digestive biscuit and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. They should be quite thick, so they remain a little chewy after baking.
Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes, till they are lightly coloured but not yet crisp. Remove the tray from the oven, leave to cool for a minute or two, then transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack. As they cool, they will crisp up.
To make the filling, put 100g mascarpone cheese in a mixing bowl and stir in 100g lemon curd. Use to sandwich the cookies together.
Makes 8-12.
A few thoughts
If you eat these cookies within an hour of filling, they will remain crisp. But I prefer them the next day, when they become soft and chewy.
Rather than filling the biscuits with the lemon cream, melt 100g dark chocolate, dip each biscuit halfway into the chocolate, then leave on waxed paper in a cool place to set. Alternatively, trickle melted chocolate randomly over the biscuits (in which case you will need a little less chocolate).
Crumble the cooled cookies over vanilla ice cream.
Sandwich the biscuits together with vanilla ice cream instead of lemon curd and mascarpone, returning them briefly to the freezer to set.
strawberries, mascarpone, brioche, hazelnuts, sugar, vanilla extract, double cream
Lightly oil a non-stick baking sheet, using a muld or flavourless oil. Put 40g skinned hazelnuts and 80g caster sugar in a non-stick frying pan with a couple of tablespoons of water and bring to the boil. Let the mixture bubble until the nuts are pale gold. Do not stir more than once or twice. Watch them carefully as the colour darkens a little, then tip them on to the oiled tray. Leave for 10 minutes to cool and crisp.
Slice 20 strawberries in half. You can remove the leaves if you wish. Lightly whip 200ml double cream till thick, then gently fold in 200g mascarpone cheese and a little vanilla extract. Roughly chop the sugared hazelnuts and fold half of them into the cream and mascarpone.
Toast 4 slices of brioche and spread some of the mascarpone cream on each slice. Pile the strawberries on top and scatter with the reserved chopped sugared nuts.
For 4. Soft, sweet toast, berries, cream. Summer.
mangoes, passion fruits, double cream, meringue
Whip 300ml double cream till it stands in soft folds. Crumble 180g shop-bought or homemade meringues into it, roughly, so you get both large and small pieces, but do not stir.
Peel 2 small, very ripe honey mangoes, slice the flesh from the stones and chop it into small pieces. Add to the cream and meringues. Halve 6 ripe passion fruits, then squeeze out the juice through a small sieve into a bowl. Gently, very gently, fold the juice, mango and meringues into the whipped cream. It will need only 2 or 3 stirs at most. You can chill for an hour or so, if you wish.
For 4. Heavenly assembly.
figs, ricotta, fruit bread, double cream, walnuts, honey, rosemary
Tip 4 tablespoons of shelled walnuts into a shallow pan, add 2 tablespoons of honey and a bushy sprig of rosemary, crushing it in your hand a little as you do. Let the honey bubble for a minute or 2 till it starts to darken slightly, then remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
Slice 2 perfectly ripe figs in half. Stir 4 tablespoons of double cream into 4 tablespoons of ricotta. Lightly toast 2 slices of fruit bread. Place the toast on 2 plates, divide the ricotta cream between them, place figs on each, then spoon over the warm walnuts and honey.
For 2. Figs, ricotta, honey and rosemary. Ancient flavours. Contemporary twist.