Baked raspberry stuffed peaches with cream and muscovado sugar are good and, despite being very easy look quite impressive:

Halve one peach per person, remove the stone and fill the hole with fresh raspberries.  Drizzle over a little double cream (has to be double, otherwise it splits), then sprinkle over a little muscovado sugar and bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes.  Take out and serve either with more fresh raspberries and cream, or with a little ice-cream 

Minnie's summer trifle - a classic version with red fruits and cake soaked in liqueur layered with vanilla custard and whipped cream, topped with sliced almonds and fruits.  I loved this trifle.  I had tried a trifle made by others a couple of times and didn't like those versions.  I was really glad to discover, it is an excellent dish when made this classic way.  It's pretty easy - mostly assembly and makes use of a lot of fruit and it looks fabulous.

The easiest summer 'desserts' are simply ripe summer fruits or a good quality ice cream.  If you can make homemade ice cream combined with some of the best summer fruits - not much is better than that.

I'll ask her if it's ok to share the recipe Mads.  I am sure she won't mind.

Minerva's Classic and Most Excellent Trifle Recipe (I put this into my own words to some extent for my recipe files)  I would give you Minnie's words, but I am not at home and my paper copy of her recipe is not with me.

This is a layered dish.  You will be using the following elements to layer into a glass trifle dish or into glass parfait dishes.  The goal is for each layer to stay separate (except the cake, fruit and liqueur make a marriage as they soak in the refrigerator which is super).

Madeira or Sponge Cake (I used gluten-free lady’s fingers - to some of you, 'boudoir biscuits, love that term)  Minnie says it should not be a moist, homemade cake, but one that is a bit dry so that it will readily soak up the fruit juices and liqueur.
Best-quality Raspberry Jam (homemade if possible)
Red Fruits, berries
Liqueur (strong liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Sherry - I used Chambord)
Vanilla Custard (for Americans, use a good vanilla pudding)
Whipped Cream (must be made with heavy whipping cream)
Toasted, Flaked Almonds

Spread the jam on slices of cake and sandwich them jam-sides together.  Cut into 1 inch cubes.  Layer bottom of trifle dish (or use individual parfait glasses) with cake pieces.  Mash 1/3 of the fruit with a fork.  Cut the rest of the fruit into small pieces and combine with the mashed fruit.  Layer fruit over the cake.  Sprinkle with a full wineglass of liqueur.  Chill for an hour in the refrigerator.  Level out the layer of fruit.  Top with vanilla custard and level it out.  Chill to firm it up for another 20 minutes or more.  Top with whipped cream and decorate sparingly with toasted almond flakes and fruit or what you wish.

Once the whipped cream is on, it can begin to melt rapidly, so refrigerate right away if you are not serving it that instant and your kitchen is hot.

Note:  I used a lot of fruit, which was nice and the custard part really does stretch, add plenty of whipped cream and then, you will feed many with this dish.  It's surprising how far it goes and mine kept well for a couple of days, well, we are like sharks when it comes to a fancy dessert like this and would never let a morsel go uneaten.

Of course, omit the liqueur if you are serving this to children.

Last edited by MsPablo (Tue 07 Aug 12 12:11am)