TREAT yourself this summer with tasty desserts ranging from sundaes to sponge cakes.
Everyone loves a dessert but not all of them have to be unhealthy- choose from a healthy yoghurt-based sundae or a fruit-filled meringue. These lighter and fresher alternatives are sure to be something you will want to make again and again.
Sophie Michell’s Sweet Eve Strawberry, Raspberry, Honey and Honeycomb Sundae
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: n/a
You’ll need:
400g Sweet Eve strawberries
1 tsp icing sugar
150ml double cream
1 vanilla pod
1 tbsp of runny honey
100ml low fat greek yoghurt
300g BerryJewel raspberries
300g of honeycomb, broken up
What to do:
Firstly hull and half the Sweet Eve strawberries then mix with the icing sugar. Place to one side and let them marinate while you prepare the cream.
Pour the cream into a bowl and add the scraped out vanilla seeds from the pod and the honey. Whip the cream to form soft peaks and then fold in the Greek yoghurt.
Take four little glass bowls and divide the Sweet Eve strawberry mix between each one, then pile on some vanilla honey cream. Next, add a layer of raspberries and cover with some more vanilla honey cream. Finally, sprinkle the honeycomb on top of the cream and top with a whole strawberry cut in half.
Sophie Michell’s Hazelnut Meringue Layer Cake with Sweet Eve Strawberries and Raspberries
Serves: 12-14
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
You’ll need:
250g whole hazelnuts
8 egg whites
300g caster sugar
200ml double cream
200g Sweet Eve strawberries, hulled and sliced in half
100g BerryJewel raspberries
icing sugar to decorate
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas mark 4.
Blitz the hazelnuts in a blender until very fine.
Take a clean, grease-free bowl and add the egg whites. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gradually add the caster sugar a dessert spoon at a time, whisking well in between. Continue until all the sugar has been added and the mixture is thick and glossy, then fold in the hazelnuts.
Divide the mix between three greased and lined Victoria sandwich tins and then bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes, until golden.
When done, take out of the oven, cool in the tins and then carefully remove.
Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks and spread a third of the mixture onto one of the meringues. Add a layer of Sweet Eve strawberries and BerryJewel raspberries, and then top with the second meringue. Repeat the process with the second and third meringue, topping the final meringue with the remaining cream and Sweet Eve strawberries until you end up with a top layer of Sweet Eve strawberries.
To finish, sprinkle with icing sugar.
Cook’s tip: Run a knife around the outside of the cake tins to release the meringues and upturn them to get them out of the tin. Carefully peel off the lining paper.
Streamline’s healthier homemade Victoria sponge
Serves: 8
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
You’ll need
200g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
140g golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
175g Total Greek Yogurt
2-3 drops vanilla extract
25g unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
5 tbsp Streamline Strawberry Jam
fresh strawberries to decorate
What to do
Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
Lightly oil 2 x 18cm sandwich cake tins with a little rapeseed oil and line the bottom with greaseproof paper. Tip the flour, baking powder and sugar into a mixing bowl and combine. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, add the yogurt, vanilla, melted butter, milk and oil and stir until smooth. Tip this into the dry mixture and gently fold with a large metal spoon until well combined.
Divide the mixture between the tins and level the tops. Bake for 20 minutes until the cakes have risen and spring back when you gently press the top.
Let the cakes cool for a few minutes in the tins, then turn them out, remove the greaseproof paper and leave to cool on a cooling rack until completely cold.
Upturn one of the cakes onto a serving plate and spread the Streamline Strawberry Jam over. Gently place the other cake on top and decorate with slices of fresh strawberries.
Sophie Michell’s Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Sweet Eve Strawberries and Raspberries
Serves: 8-10
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
You’ll need:
250g unsalted butter diced
250g dark chocolate broken into pieces
5 medium eggs separated
250g golden caster sugar
200ml crème fraiche
half a punnet of Sweet Eve strawberries (hulled and chopped)
a handful of BerryJewel raspberries
a sprig of mint
icing sugar to decorate
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas mark 4 and line a 20cm x 10cm-deep loose-bottom cake tin.
Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl set over a pan containing a little simmering water, stirring occasionally. While the chocolate is melting, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar in a large bowl, until pale, thickened and doubled in volume.
In a separate bowl, with clean whisks, whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually beat in the remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking after each addition. You should by the end have a stiff, glossy mix.
Fold the melted chocolate and butter into the egg yolk and sugar mixture, followed by the egg white mix in batches. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 60-75 minutes or until a skewer inserted at the centre comes out with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Leave the cake to cool in the tin. It will sink in the middle, but this is completely normal.
Once the cake has cooled, remove from the tin and then spoon the crème fraiche in to fill the sunken centre of the cake. Finally pile on the Sweet Eve strawberries, BerryJewel raspberries and a few mint leaves. To finish, dust over a little icing sugar.
Cook’s tip: if you think the cake is getting too dark but isn’t yet cooked in the centre, cover the top with a double sheet of foil.
Streamline strawberry chocolate brownies
Serves: 16
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30-35 minutes
You’ll need:
200g dark chocolate, (try to use one with around 70% cocoa content) chopped
2 medium eggs
200g dark Muscovado sugar
150g 0% fat Greek yoghurt
150g plain flour
2 tbsp Streamline strawberry jam
fresh strawberries to serve
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 170C/ 150 fan/ gas 3 and line a 20cmx20cm tin with greaseproof paper.
Heat the chocolate over a pan of hot water, stirring occasionally
While the chocolate is melting whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until they’re fluffy and thickened. Continue whisking, gradually adding the sugar and then stir in the yoghurt.
Gently stir the melted chocolate into the egg mixture until completely combined then sieve in the flour and gently fold in.
Poached Pink Lady apples in wine with orange and pomegranate
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
You’ll need:
4 Pink Lady apples
400ml South African white wine
200g caster sugar
zest and juice of 1 orange
4 cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
200ml Greek yoghurt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
50g pomegranate seeds or 1 pomegranate
What to do:
Halve and core the Pink Lady apples, place in a saucepan with the wine, sugar, orange zest and juice and the cloves and cinnamon. Simmer gently until just tender but still holding their shape, for approximately 30 minutes.
Mix together the yoghurt and cinnamon.
Serve warm or cold with the pomegranate seeds scattered over and a spoonful of the yoghurt, sprinkled with a little more cinnamon if desired.
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