Leila Lindholm’s Dime Bar Ice Cream Cake With Strawberries

This cake is a big favourite amongst kids and some adults too! Dime bar and ice cream are great together. And the addition of lime-sugared strawberries makes a really fresh and summery accompaniment that suits the cake perfectly.   Serves 8 4 free-range eggs 50g (2oz) sugar 200g (7oz) cream cheese 300ml (10 fl oz) double cream 3 double Dime bars, chopped to make about 150g (5oz) in total 200g (7oz) digestive biscuits, crushed Lime Strawberries 1kg (2lb 2oz) fresh strawberries 100g (4oz) Demerara sugar Finely grated zest of 3 limes   Separate the egg yolks from the whites.   Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until fluffy and mix in the cream cheese.   Whip the cream until fluffy and fold it into the egg mixture.   Whip the egg whites into stiff peaks and carefully fold into the mixture.   Mix the chopped Dime bars into the mixture.   Crush the digestive biscuits and then layer the crumbs with the creamy mixture in a sponge cake mould.   Freeze the ice cream for about 5 hours, until it is lightly frozen.   Hull and slice the strawberries. Sprinkle the slices with the demerara sugar and grated lime zest and serve them with the dime bar ice cream cake.   Recipe translated by Dr. B.J. Epstein.

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Mini Strawberry Pavlova Pies

These mini pavlova pies have to be one of the best ways to show of ripe, red, summer strawberries.  The pavlova mix leaves a wonderfully crisp meringue with a chewy marshmallow interior.  Make this a day before you plan to serve them and they will happily sit in an airtight container for up to a week.   Serves 4 250g of icing sugar 4 egg whites 2 teaspoons of cornflour 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar 300g of strawberries 300ml of cream, whipped 3 tablespoons of strawberry jam   Preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas Mark 2. Line two baking trays with parchment. Place the icing sugar and egg whites in a standing food mixer and whisk on high for 10 minutes until glossy white peaks form.   Using a spatula, gently fold in the cornflour and the white wine vinegar. Using a tablespoon, place 3in/8cm spoonfuls of the meringue mix on to the baking tray and flatten each one gently in the centre with the back of a spoon. Bake for 45 minutes.   Heat the strawberry jam in a saucepan until it has a loose pouring consistency. Layer the meringues with cream and strawberries and serve with a drizzle of jam.    

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How does your garden grow?

I am very proud to announce that my kitchen garden has just started producing the first fruit and vegetables of the season, so the recipes I want to share with you use a few of the things I've grown myself. They are all easy to grow and, more importantly, easy to cook.  It's my third year growing fruit and vegetables and, for the first time since I started, my little patch is right outside my door. When we moved into our new house it came with a jungle of a garden out the back, which I had high hopes would become my little plot.  After a lot of strimming and cutting and snipping and chopping, there was finally room for some raised beds courtesy of Patchworkveg.com and, within a few months, I had a place to grow.

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Strawberry State Of Mind!

Breakfast in the summer is just way more fun -fact! I put it down to the fact it's bright when you wake up... you're more likely to want to be up and about when the sun is shining. Of course this means making breafast a little more interesting. Porridge, as much as I have a love/ hate relationship with it, keeps me going during the colder months.

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Summer Berry Layered Pavlova

This mix makes a chewy, marshmallow meringue, which goes perfectly with the cream and berries. Layering the meringue discs gives this beautiful summer dish fantastic texture! If you haven't tried making meringues before, don't be scared as this mix is fairly fool proof, just pop the icing sugar and egg whites in a mixer and whisk till you have stiff glossy peaks, add in the cornflour and white wine vinegar, pop in the oven and you're sorted.

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Mega Strawberry Summer Cake

Strawberries really should be celebrated with over the top desserts and if you want to look beyond the simplicity and utter deliciousness of strawberries and cream then this is the cake for you! When you are assembling the layers of cake make sure you give it an extra little squeeze to ensure those mouth watering dribbles of jam down the sides. Serves 8 3 large eggs 225g of caster sugar 50g of butter, melted 100ml of milk 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 210g plain flour 2 teaspoons of baking powder For the filling and topping: 80g of strawberry jam 300g of strawberries, hulled 250ml of cream Preheat the oven to 175oC/Gas 4 and grease and line two x 8 inch spring form baking tins. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy. Mix the milk, melted butter and vanilla extract together in a measuring jug and pour into the sugar and egg.  Mix through to combine. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the bowl and then using a spatula, gently fold in to the cake mix until completely smooth and combined. Divide the mix evenly between the two baking tins and place in the oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. When both cake layers are completely cooled, whip the cream until soft peaks form.  Sieve the jam into a bowl to ensure it is really smooth. If the cake layers have a peak in the middle make sure to slice it off so you are left with perfectly flat layers. Place one layer on a cake stand and dollop with half the cream, spread evenly and then drizzle with the smooth strawberry jam.  Carefully place the second cake layer on top and add the remaining whipped cream and strawberries.

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