Apricot cream cheese and chocolate pie

One of my favourite ways of making the most of apricot season. Add some Amaretto or Grand Marnier if you fancy it.

20 minutes preparation
4 hours chilling

1 ½ packets chocolate digestives, crushed
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
100g butter, melted
500g cream cheese
400ml single cream
4 sheets gelatine
12 – 15 fresh apricots, stoned and puréed with 3 or 4 tablespoons sugar

Mix the biscuit crumbs, butter and cocoa powder together and press the mixture into a 20 or 22cm diameter springform tin. Chill in the fridge while you’re making the topping.

Soften the gelatine in cold water. Heat the lemon juice until nearly boiling, then dissolve the gelatine in it. Cool slightly then add to the apricot purée.

Whisk the cream and cream cheese together until smooth, swirl in the apricot purée and pour onto the biscuit base.

Leave in the fridge for three to four hours before removing from the tin and serving.

Summer Pudding

A timeless classic and the true taste of summer. I like to cook half of the fruit and simply leave the rest to poach in order to have a varied texture inside the pudding.

For 8
45 minutes preparation
8 hours chilling

1kg mix of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, rinsed
150g sugar
8 slices sliced white pan bread, crusts removed

Line a large pudding bowl (1 ½ pints) with cling film.

Hull and quarter the strawberries. Put half the fruit into a pan with the sugar and poach gently for 4 or 5 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the juice runs from them. Add the rest of the fruit and stir them through. Leave to cool.

Press the base of the bowl into a piece of bread to allow the exact size at the top of the pudding when turning out. Put this round piece into the bottom of the bowl.

Cut the rest of the bread into triangles the height of your bowl. Press them into the sides of the bowl, making sure they stick out slightly at the top and there are as few spaces as possible. The bread is pliable, so push and squeeze it into any cracks!

Remove a couple tablespoons of juice from the cooled fruit. This is to cover any pale patches on the pudding when you turn it out.

Pour the fruit into the bowl and close the pudding with a last layer of bread, again protruding slightly from the edges of the bowl.

Cover the top with cling film, place a plate on top and weigh the pudding down with tins of food or other heavy item. The goal is to press the pudding so the juice soaks the sides.

Chill overnight, for at least eight hours. Turn out, spoon the reserved juice over the top, decorate with a few more pieces of fruit, and serve with cream.