Make the most of berry season with Rachel Allen's recipes for strawberry and vanilla mousse, summer drizzle cake and raspberry amaretti tart​​​​​​

Irish Independent

15 hours ago

Strawberry and vanilla mousse
I love a really fresh strawberry and vanilla mousse. This version, which is undeniably simple but oh-so divine, uses the Italian cream cheese mascarpone, which sets the mousse softly like fluffy billowing clouds. Serve with or without crumbly shortbread biscuits, or if you fancy, you could fold in some broken up meringues, Eton mess style.
Serves 3
You will need:
150g hulled strawberries
25g caster sugar
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
4-5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 x 250g tub of mascarpone
100ml cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50g caster sugar
2 tablespoons of pistachio nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped — optional
3 glasses or small bowls for serving
1 Cut the strawberries in half and place in a blender with the 25g of caster sugar, the finely grated lemon zest and 4 tablespoons of the lemon juice. Blend until fine then taste the puree — it should be flavoursome, nicely sweet with a lemony kick. Add more sugar or lemon juice, if necessary.
2 When you're happy with the flavour of the strawberry puree, push it through a sieve sitting over a bowl, making sure to scrape every bit from the underside of the sieve.
3 Place the mascarpone in a separate bowl and add in the cream, the vanilla extract and the 50g of caster sugar. Whisk for about 10-20 seconds, until it is a smooth and softly whipped consistency.
4 Pour approximately two thirds of the strained strawberry puree into the cream mixture, folding the two together until just blended. Divide half of the mixture between the 3 glasses then pour half of the strawberry puree on top, followed by the remaining mousse mixture and, finally, the last of the strawberry puree.
5 Place in the fridge to sit and chill until you're ready to serve before scattering with the toasted and chopped pistachio nuts, if using.
Summer berry drizzle cake
For a summery bake that's just calling out for a nice cup of tea, try the summer berry drizzle cake. Make using fresh or frozen berries, or just raspberries, if you prefer. Now that's berry nice.
Serves 6
You will need:
175g butter
175g caster sugar
3 large eggs
225g self-raising flour
175g mixed berries, fresh or frozen
75g granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 Preheat the oven to 180C (160 fan), 350F, Gas 4.
2 Line a regular (900g/2lb) loaf tin with parchment paper.
3 Place the butter in a bowl and cream until soft. Add in the caster sugar and continue to beat until soft and light.
4 Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk to break them up. Now pour the egg mixture into the butter and sugar mix, very slowly and gradually, beating well between each addition so that the mixture stays smooth and creamy — see Rachel Recommends, below.
5 Sift in the flour and mix in gently to incorporate.
6 Place half of the mixture in the lined loaf tin and level the mixture out using the back of a spoon. Scatter 75g of the mixed berries over the top then cover with the remaining cake mixture, levelling it out again on top.
7 Place in the centre of the preheated oven and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8 Now mix the remaining berries with the granulated sugar and the lemon juice, mashing the fruit ever so slightly, and pour over the hot cake to cover the surface. Allow to cool then remove from the tin and peel away the paper.
9 Cut into slices to serve.
Rachel Recommends If you add the egg too quickly to the butter and sugar mix, when making the drizzle cake, it can start to curdle, which can make the cake heavy, so to remedy this add 1 tablespoon of the flour and continue as before.
Raspberry amaretti tart
I adore this raspberry amaretti tart. It works best with the crunchy amaretti biscuits that can be found in some supermarkets and many Italian delis and food shops. The recipe is low in sugar and gluten free. I love the crunchy almond biscuit base that sits under creamy and tangy Greek yoghurt and juicy raspberries. Feel free, if you wish, to replace the ground cinnamon with ground cardamom, or finely grated lemon zest, for a change.
Serves 6-8
You will need:
225g crunchy amaretti biscuits
125g butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
250g natural Greek yoghurt
350g fresh raspberries
Icing sugar, for dusting
23cm diameter tart tin, with a removable base for baking
1 To make the tart base, first place the amaretti biscuits in a clean plastic bag and crush into fine crumbs, using a rolling pin. Alternatively, you can whiz the biscuits in a food processor for a few seconds.
2 Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, then remove from the hob and stir in the biscuit crumbs. Pour the biscuit mixture into the tin — see Top Tip, below — then use the back of a spoon to flatten it into the base and up the sides of the tin by 2cm, so that the sides are higher than the rest of the base. (I find using my fingertips for this gives the edges a good finish.) Put the biscuit base in the fridge to chill for 1 to 2 hours.
3 When you are ready to serve, mix the cinnamon with the yoghurt, then spoon the mixture into the chilled tart base and simply top with the fresh raspberries, and finish with a generous dusting of icing sugar.