Raspberry, elderflower and amaretti crumble (wheat-free)

My sister Lizzie came over for dinner this evening after work and I made this as a quick wheat-free pudding. I was pleased that it was also a dairy-free and sugar-free dessert as we’re all trying to be healthy, but then quickly realised that there was plenty of sugar in the amaretti biscuits and elderflower cordial (and in fact the porridge oats were golden syrup-flavoured).  On that realisation, I decided to hang it all and served it with gorgeous salted caramel ice cream – there’s always tomorrow to try being healthy…

Pear and blackberry sponge flan with elderflower, gin and tonic jelly

For Christmas, my mum gave me a sponge flan tin. This was my first go at testing it, and the results were lovely – really light, airy cake which I topped with fresh pear and blackberries and a jelly made with elderflower cordial, gin and tonic water.  You could use any fruit or jelly combination you like though.

Elderflower, lemon and poppyseed cake

Today I've been making cakes to sell at a charity fundraising bake sale organised by Mags, who was a teacher at our school and became something of a surrogate mum to Lu when she was a teenager. She was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and has been doing incredible fundraising ever since. The first of my contributions is this elderflower, lemon and poppyseed loaf cake with an elderflower icing.

Raspberry ripple, elderflower and almond cake

This is a birthday cake for our friend Shahien, whose son Sabir commissioned me to make a cake with raspberries and strawberries for her. I made a Victoria sponge but included crushed raspberries rippled into the cake batter, which also contained elderflower cordial and substituted some of the flour for ground almonds. I then made an elderflower whipped cream and added elderflower to raspberry jam for the filling, layered with fresh raspberries and strawberries. Happy birthday Shane!

Caramelised pear and almond pudding cake

This is one of those cakes (well, more pudding than cake) that doesn't look all that special but tastes divine. I think there's something pretty good about a pud like that - the surprise that your somewhat low expectations have been confounded as you take your first mouthful makes the delight at its surprise deliciousness all the better! This was dreamt up when I found a mountain of these baby pears in the grocers. Like golden sugar plums, they looked too pretty to eat and sat adorning a fruitbowl for several days while I waited for them to hit their perfect ripeness. Finally as they began to brown they took on a rustic look of windfall apples, and I knew it was time to turn them into a pudding. I made a cake batter with cinnamon, ground almonds and cream cheese, then caramelised the pears in apple and elderflower juice to top the cake. Before it finished baking, I topped the cake with slivered almonds, caramelised with the pear juices and a splash of cream, which gave the cake a crunchy topping and a ripple of warm silky caramel running through the middle. 

Pimms and elderflower summer pudding

Summer pudding is one of my all-time favourite desserts. Soggy bread shouldn't be a good thing, but this fruit filled pud transforms the bread into a silky cake-like texture! It's really easy to make just using a frozen packet of mixed summer fruits. Once I've put it in the fridge to chill over night, I am desperate for it to be ready. And once it's had its first outing as a dessert, it makes an amazing breakfast! I've added a splash or two of elderflower and Pimms, but it is perfectly good without. I made a Pimms and orange syllabub to go with it, which complements the silky, cloud-like texture beautifully. 

Beetroot redcurrant and white chocolate muffins with elderflower mascarpone icing

Tomorrow our friends Cath and Gregg are getting married. I'm helping decorate and it's a red a white colour theme (Gregg is a big Liverpool football fan). Tonight, Cath is having a few of her close girl friends round to her mum's house to celebrate her last night of freedom! I've made these red and white muffins - coloured with beetroot powder (and a little red food dye to make them more red than pink) and full of white chocolate chunks and redcurrants. The icing is flavoured with elderflower cordial.

Summer fruit tart with Pimms, elderflower, rose and mint

This is a really quick easy tart that I made after work for dessert.  I added Pimms, elderflower cordial, rosewater and fresh mint to a handful of summer fruits and left them to macerate for a while, then strained the juices and added it to extra thick double cream to serve with the warm tart.  The fruit is simply sprinkled over some ready-made puff pastry with a few flaked almonds and a little sugar.  Stunningly simple and summery!

Elderflower and lime cheesecakes with greengage compote

It was our second wedding anniversary on Tuesday and we went out for a lovely meal to celebrate.  For pudding, Lu ordered a deconstructed lime and elderflower cheesecake.  I wasn't such a fan of the 'deconstruction' (blobs of cheesecake mixture on a plate with a shortbread biscuit) but the combination of elderflower and lime was delicious!  It inspired me to make this for dessert this evening for dinner with our friend Kirsty.  I think it would be really lovely with gooseberries but unfortunately couldn't find any at my local greengrocer's.  Greengages are a good replacement though and compliment the elderflower beautifully.  This would also be nice with ginger biscuits in the base, but I just added some ground ginger to malted milk biscuits.

Apple and elderflower crumble pies

Our fridge was empty this morning, which always makes both me and Lu feel sad!  Languishing on an otherwise empty shelf was a packet of ready-made pastry.  This was a way to make it, and a slightly tired looking bag of granny smith apples, go a long way, and cheer us all up on a wintry day when everyone in our house is feeling under the weather!  The pastry was enough to make 12 large muffin sized pies and 12 mini ones.  A bit of spice, some elderflower cordial and the juice and zest of a clementine helped make them a bit more festive, what with Christmas only days away now.  A mouthful of a mini apple pie like this can't fail to make you smile!

Raspberry and elderflower mini-muffins