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!

Eton Mess cupcakes

Lu's nan is finally home from hospital after being admitted during the hottest week of the year.  Everyone outside is sun-bathing and enjoying the weather, but she has been stuck inside on an unbearably hot ward.  She's been most upset about missing the start of the French Tennis Open, so I thought now she's home I'd make some cupcakes that celebrate the sunshine and the spirit of Wimbledon, for her to enjoy while catching up on the tennis and recovering from her first round of chemotherapy today.  These are inspired by Eton Mess and include diced strawberries, crushed meringue and a hint of rosewater in both the cake batter and the icing.

Rose and vanilla mini-cupcakes

Citrus rose sorbet

I recently found an enticing looking bottle of rose syrup in the foreign produce section of the supermarket – it’s a beautiful deep pink coloured cordial.  This sorbet recipe was an invention so I that could use it – the syrup is probably too strong for cakes, when a splash of rosewater is better, although I’m sure it could be diluted for that.  If you can only find rosewater, you could make a syrup by gently heating rosewater and about 100g caster sugar in a saucepan and then leaving to cool.  The colour is fantastic though!  The recipe is incredibly easy and would be even easier in an ice cream machine (the frozen disc for mine was unfortunately not in the freezer ready to use when I thought of making this, so I did it the old-fashioned way by stirring it every half hour).  I served this sprinkled with fresh pomegranate seeds.

Flourless clementine, pistachio and rosewater cake

This is based on a Nigella Lawson recipe for a clementine cake using the whole fruit (skin, pith and all) and no flour, but also takes inspiration from a lovely Nigel Slater recipe from his book The Kitchen Diaries, adding pistachios and rosewater to the flavours.

I made it as a birthday cake for my mum, as I was looking for an interesting wheat-free cake idea for my two gluten-free sisters to enjoy with all of us – I’m not a big fan of wheat-free flour so I wanted a flourless recipe.  Mostly flourless cakes are chocolate ones (my favourite is this black forest gateau recipe) but Mum's not a chocolate fan.  This cake suits all those complicated things - wheat free, flourless, non-chocolate - but delicious and quite grown up!  Served with iced mint tea, happy birthday Mum!