Cherry loaf, peaches in wine and a strawberry meringue cake – no-fuss summer desserts

Photographs Patrice de Villiers

Prop styling Jade Gallagher; food styling Ben Boxall

I have to make impromptu desserts several times a week at home for my wife, Tilly, because she needs them and I can’t plan ahead. It’s fun to rustle something up after dinner for her while she chooses what we’re going to watch, so I’ve used recent evenings as some inspiration for this collection.

I haven’t shopped for any of these recipes. They all use ingredients we already had, which is the point for me. I like desserts on the fly.

I make this cake when I need something that looks impressive in a hurry. Although it’s perfectly nice cold, even chilled, if you gently remove it from the tin, it’s good right away which is very useful. I used to make this cake with regular flour until a gluten-free friend came round and I made this version and have stuck with it. You can substitute the polenta and almonds back to 65g of plain flour if you don’t have them.

For 4

unsalted butter 65g, plus a little to grease the tin
whole almonds 40g (with the skins on if you like)
polenta 25g
baking powder ½ tsp
caster sugar 150g
eggs 2, separated
milk 2 tbsp
salt a pinch
fresh strawberries 225g, hulled
double cream 200ml
sugar 40g

Heat the oven to 160C fan/gas mark 4 and grease a 15cm cake tin, the type with a removable bottom and clip is ideal. Line the bottom with baking paper.

In a food processor, blitz the almonds with the polenta and baking powder until fine. In a bowl, cream the butter with 50g of the caster sugar, then beat in the egg yolks one by one, followed by the milk. Finally, fold in the almond flour. Spread this really thick batter over the bottom of the pan and smooth down.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then add a pinch of salt and the rest of the caster sugar one spoonful at a time, whisking all the while until you obtain a thick smooth meringue. Add atop the cake batter and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. It is ready when the meringue has greatly risen in a dome and is golden on top.

While it’s cooking, make the cream by whizzing 100g of the strawberries with the 40g of sugar to make a puree. Whip the cream to peaks, stir in the puree, then slice and stir in the remaining strawberries.

The cake can be gently prised from the tin once out of the oven for 5 minutes and served right away against the cold cream. It will collapse and topple a bit, but don’t let that put you off.

I made this cake having bought cottage cheese because I intended it to have a healthier end. I use oatcakes instead of pastry as I remember all those cheesecakes during school years and it’s quicker – although pastry would be good too.

For 4

oatcakes 100g
butter 85g, plus extra for greasing
soft brown sugar 50g, plus 1 tbsp
fresh apricots 200g
cottage cheese 225g
single cream 125g
caster sugar 75g
lemon zest of ½
cornflour 1 tbsp
eggs 2

Heat oven to 160C fan/gas mark 4. Grease the sides of a 20cm springform cake tin.

In a food processor, blitz the oatcakes, 50g of the butter and the 50g of soft brown sugar to fine crumbs. Press this mixture evenly into the bottom of the cake tin, then set it aside in the fridge while you make the filling.

Halve the apricots, remove the stones and cut them into rough 1-2cm slices. Toss them with the tablespoon of soft brown sugar.

Melt the remaining 35g of butter over a medium-high heat, allow it to brown slightly, then turn the heat off.

Place the cottage cheese and cream in your food processor with the caster sugar and blitz until smooth. Then add the lemon zest, melted butter, cornflour and eggs all together and process until they are just mixed.

Place the apricots all over the oatcake crumbs first, followed by the cheese mix.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 45-50 minutes, until risen and just set in the middle.

Once slightly cooled, unclip and remove the cake ring. If you can wait, this is best served cold.

Chilling the wine slightly flattens the flavour, and so I really enjoy cooling some wines that I’d otherwise find a bit too much.

I don’t care if this is a little pretentious, this is something I like to do for myself, at the table, only on sunny days at the end of a holiday lunch, when I know that I’m going to do little more than doze in the afternoon.

There should be no added sugar, or herbs, or any other flavour. You could make this just before you eat and leave it in the fridge until needed, but I witnessed as a child the ritual of it being made at the table and to me this is part of the pleasure.

Serves 1

chilled southern Italian red wine 1 glass (such as montepulciano from Abruzzo, negro amaro or primitivo from Puglia or nero d’avola from Sicily)
yellow peach 1 ripe (in Campania it would be a variety called percoca)

Cut small slices of the peach with your table knife straight into your glass of wine. The pieces of peach should not be uniform, but of various sizes. Poke it about with the end of your knife a little while you wait at the table for 5 minutes, at least. Then slowly eat the fruit, taking sips of the wine.

At this time of year, I crave and make Florentine cherry focaccia. But as my home baking has progressed and evolved through long, lockdown days, I can now end up taking three days to do it, what with grinding the flour and feeding the starter and so on. This is a more English, cakey bread batter: 100% no fuss. It takes minutes to make and then just a little patience while it proves. I often end up using frozen cherries, which are just perfect but best exploited right now when in season.

Makes 10 good slices

butter for greasing the tin
plain flour 500g
baking powder 1 tsp
active yeast 4g
salt 10g
barely warm water 200g
milk 200g
olive oil 10g
eggs 2
stoned cherries 400g (frozen is fine)
sugar 30g
fennel seeds 1 tbsp
olive oil

Grease a loaf tin with butter. Mine is 30cm x 10cm, but a square tin is also nice.

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, yeast and salt. In another, combine the wet ingredients; water, milk, the 10g of olive oil and eggs. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and quickly and simply mix together with a wooden spoon. Spatula the batter into the tin.

Toss the cherries with the sugar and fennel seeds ahead of poking them, one by one, into the batter. Try to have them almost all buried with only a handful protruding, as their juices will run to the sides of the loaf, and a little is lovely but a lot is a lot.

Cover the tin – I usually place the whole thing in a plastic bag – and set it aside for 4 or 5 hours.

Heat the oven to 200C fan/gas mark 7 and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully turn out on to a plate. I like to serve slices either still warm, or warmed up, drenched in olive oil, by itself or with fresh cheese.

You could grill these figs as the finale to a summer barbecue.

Serves 2

egg 1, separated
icing sugar 30g
mascarpone 100g
lemon juice ½ tbsp
olive oil 1 tsp
sea salt
figs 6
apricot jam ½ tbsp
grappa 2 shots
cocoa powder 1 tbsp

Beat the egg yolk with a tablespoon of the icing sugar, then add the mascarpone and mix well. Then whisk the egg white to peaks before adding the rest of the sugar and continuing to whisk. Once thick and glossy, fold into the mascarpone mixture. Set aside in the fridge while you prepare the figs.

Place a grill pan, or dry heavy frying pan, over a medium heat. Mix the lemon juice with the olive oil and a tiny pinch of salt in a bowl. Trim the figs, slice in half and toss them in the bowl so that they are coated with the lemon oil.

Place on the grill pan, cut side down and sear for 3 minutes, before turning them and cooking for a further 2 minutes. Remove from the grill and set aside.

In a small saucepan, warm the apricot jam until it is runny. Remove from the heat then add the alcohol. Brush the figs with this mixture, repeating until all gone.

Serve along with the mascarpone cream, dusted with cocoa powder.

Joe Trivelli is co-executive head chef of the River Cafe, London W6