Roasted strawberries are really delicious. I especially love them with orange juice and rosewater, and they are prefect with this hazelnut sponge cake.
This sweet potato and macadamia cream cake makes a great dessert, but really, there’s no need to save it for a special after-dinner occasion – I keep coming back for a sneaky slice every time I have a cup of tea.
It’s hard to beat a great carrot cake with lemony cream cheese frosting. The ‘naked’ method used here is quick and easy, with spectacular results. Decorate the cake with edible flowers from the garden, if you have them.
Peach jam is often overly sweet, so to counteract this I like to add soft herbs to balance the sweetness.
In the 1980s, my brother Godfrey used to make sponges using this recipe, which came from the local public health nurse, Ailsa Gathergood. Godfrey, then a sheep farmer, busy entrepreneur and father of five, reckoned the secret was to ‘beat the s--t out of it’. Use electric beaters, even if you have forearms honed by wrangling sheep and small kids.
