Bring another litre of water to the boil with the sugar, vanilla extract (or a vanilla bean slit lengthwise, grains scraped off into the water), star anise and mixed spice. Don’t be tempted to re-use the water in which you parboiled the peaches as it will have been contaminated with pesticides.

Plunge the peeled peach halves into the lightly bubbling syrup and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and leave to cool.

While the peaches are cooking, save the 12 best looking raspberries for garnish. mash the remaining raspberries with the back of a fork with the icing sugar and a squirt of lemon juice.

Using an electric mixer, whip the cream into a silky crème Chantilly. The top tips for achieving the perfect Chantilly are: 1. make sure the cream, bowl and whisk are all very cold. I place the whisk and cream in the freezer 20 min beforehand. 2. beat the cream at low speed first, moving in stages to high speed, and wait until the cream starts bubbling before adding the sugar (slowly) and vanilla extract. 3. stop once the whisk leaves well defined marks in the cream. Dip a spoon in it and turn it upside down. If the cream peak on the spoon stays up, it is ready. If not, give it another whisking. The Chantilly should only take 2-3 minutes to make. Don’t overbeat otherwise you will reach the consistency of butter.

Just before serving:

Pour some raspberry coulis in martini or wide glasses, place a good sized ice cream scoop on top and a peach half. Top with the Chantilly and a few fresh raspberries. Serve right away.

Use preferably a loose-based cake tin (I used a 20 cm square tin, a 22 cm round one will work as well). If you don’t have one, place parchment paper cut to size at the bottom of your mould to facilitate the de-moulding of the cake after it has been baked.

Butter the cake tin (and parchment paper if using) and sprinkle a bit of flour on all sides. The flour will form a barrier between the cake batter and the butter on the tin when baking, not only preventing the batter from sticking but allowing it to rise more easily.

Mix the flour with the baking powder, then add the ground almonds, granulated sugar and 75g of the icing sugar, and mix well.

Melt the butter and mix with the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt into firm peaks. This is how you do it: start by beating them on medium-low speed for a minute or so, until they form a grey foam.  Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the foam becomes smooth, moist and shiny. Stop and lift the whisk – you have achieved firm peaks when straight, upward-looking peaks form.

Gently fold the egg whites into the almond mix using a large spatula, until reaching a homogenous batter.

Pour the batter into the pan. Press delicately the raspberries one by one inside the batter until half sunk. Space them evenly, keeping a handful on the side for decorating.

Bake in the oven for 30 mins.

When ready, leave to cool. Once the cake has fully cooled down, separate its edges from the pan by running a knife’s blade carefully between the cake and the tin. De-mould the cake and place on a serving platter. Sprinkle the remaining icing sugar on top using a thieve to prevent it from lumping (with a sieve, the sugar will fall on the cake like light dust).

Place the remaining raspberries in a pretty heap or in the shape of a flower at the centre of the cake. Enjoy!!!

Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured work surface into a 1-2 mm thick round. Cut out pastry circles slightly larger than the size of the cavities of your tartlet tray, using as a cut out a suitably sized bowl placed up side down on the pastry. Press the trimming together into a ball and roll it out again for more cut outs.

Butter the cavities of the tray (this step is not needed if using a silicon tray) and place the pastry circles inside each cavity. Pierce holes into the pastry with the help of small fork and bake for about 10-12 minutes, until the pastry is lightly browned. Take out of the oven and let cool.

Place the cream and mascarpone in the freezer 15 minutes before using. Very cold cream is a key to a successful Chantilly – check out my tips here, which also apply for this mascarpone version. Mix both creams together into a bowl and whisk until the cream starts to thicken. Add the vanilla extract and sugar in small batches and stop as soon as the whisk leaves defined marks into the cream.

Unmould the pastry shells and fill them with whipped cream. Cover them with berries and reserve on a serving tray. Store in the fridge until time of serving.

Pierre Hermés shortcrust pastry recipe (2 hours before using)

Crack the egg into a small bowl; slice open the half vanilla pod and scrape the beans into a teaspoon. Reserve.

Chop the butter into small chunks, toss them into a large mixing bow and beat them with a spatula to soften. Add in succession the icing sugar, almonds, salt, vanilla beans, egg and flour, stirring well after adding each ingredient.

Shape the dough into a ball with your hands, wrap it in cling film and chill for 2 hours in the fridge before using.

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees C.

Marinate the raisins and sultanas in the rum diluted with water (or water and vanilla extract if not using rum) so that the raisins sit about 1 cm below the surface of the liquid. To accelerate the marinating process (a little trick of my own!), microwave the raisins in their marinade on full power for 10-12 minutes, or until most of the liquid appears to have been absorbed.

Sift the flour and baking powder together.

Soften 200 g of the butter in the microwave on low power and beat with the sugar until the mixture looks creamy and lighter in colour. Add the eggs one by one, mixing slowly.

Add the flour in one go and mix just enough so that the flour longer shows (too much mixing will make the cake tougher and drier).

Chop the walnuts coarsely.

Using a wooden spoon, fold gently into the cake batter the raisins and their marinade, the nuts and the almonds.

Butter the mould and pour the mixture into it.

Place in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 180 degrees C.

Melt the remaining 10 g of butter. Once a crust forms on top of the cake (about 8-10 minutes into the baking), score it lengthways by running a knife through its middle, and pour the melted butter into the rift you just created. This will allow the cake to raise beautifully without cracking the crust in odd shapes.

Bake the cake for another 50 minutes, checking on it regularly to make sure it does not burn as not all ovens are the same! The cake is ready when a knife or skewer inserted into its centre comes out clean.

After taking the cake out of the oven, allow it to cool down for 10 min. Unmould and cover the top generously with apricot jam.

Eat the cake just warm or cold, cut into thick, rich slices. This cake will keep up to 2 weeks if you store it in the fridge.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, stir in the vinegar and transfer to a small recipient to cool down. When warm, whisk the butter and vinegar into the egg mixture.

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Beat the dry mixture into the egg mixture in 2 to 3 batches, alternating with the milk. You should obtain a homogenous batter.

Pour the batter into a 20 cm round buttered cake tin or into the cavities of a muffin tray (fill in 2/3 of the way). Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40-45 minutes for the cake, 25 min for the muffins. When ready, a skewer inserted at the center of the cake or a muffin should come out clean. If not, bake for a few more minutes.

While the cake is baking, prepare the sauce by melting all the ingredients together in a saucepan over low heat.

Once the cake is baked, prick its top with a fork on several places, making a larger hole at the centre (same for the muffins). Pour 2/3 of the sauce over the cake/muffins while still in the tin, and allow the sauce to seep down into the cake for a good 10 minutes before unmoulding.

Serve warm with the rest of the sauce and fresh berries, ice-cream, or lightly cooked apricots.

Prepare the tart crust:

Pre-heat your oven at 200 degree C.

Carefully unroll the shortcrust pastry. If you have a loose base tart dish, place the pastry directly onto the dish. If your dish is basic, like mine, line it with baking paper before covering it with the shortcrust pastry (don’t worry about the paper folding on the edges, it will give a nice rustic look to the tart, see my pic above). The baking paper will make it easy to take the baked crust out of the dish without breaking it.

With a fork, pierce a few holes across the pastry. This will reduce the risk of hot air bubbles forming under the crust while it is baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 mins or until golden on the edges. Check regularly your oven for air bubbles forming under the pastry. If you see one forming, pierce it with a fork. More traditionally, you can fill your pastry with dried beans before baking it to avoid bubbles from forming, but I can’t be bothered with the hassle. A bit of care during baking is all it takes, really.

When ready, take out of the oven and reserve. Unmould carefully once it has cooled down

Prepare the crème patissière (while the crust is baking):

Heat the milk and vanilla extract in a saucepan until boiling point. if you are using the 1/2 vanilla pod instead, slit the pod lengthwise and scrape the tiny seeds. Heat the milk with the seeds and pod, and remove the latter before pouring.

Beat the egg with the sugar in a bowl until the mixture looks really smooth and falls into ribbons (this basically means that a ribbon-like strip will rest on top of the egg mixture when you drop a dollop of it from your whisk or fork)

Add the flour and whisk until smooth.

Slowly pour the boiling milk onto the egg mixture, whisking constantly

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once the liquid starts boiling, remove from the heat. Keep stirring for one minute, the crème will keep thickening in the saucepan.

Pour the crème into the baked tart crust.

…and for the ultra-sexy finish:

Wash and cut the stem off the strawberries, and cut them in half lengthways, keeping one strawberry whole to place at the center of the tart.

Wipe the strawberries dry with a paper towel and place in concentric circles on the tart, starting with the edge, cut side down, each strawberry half slightly overlapping its neighbour.

In a small bowl, mix the jam with a teaspoon of water and heat for 20 seconds in your microwave. I indicated raspberry jam here but any jam that is smooth and not too dark will do. Smooth apricot jam, for instance, works very well.

Gently brush the mixture over the strawberries to give the tart that lovely, glossy finish.

C’est prêt!

Wash the cherries and remove the stems.

Traditional clafoutis are made with unpitted cherries but I find this not really child-friendly and a real pleasure dampener. So follow my lead and pitt the cherries, using a small sharp knife. Because the cherries are cut in the process they will release some of their juices into the batter when baking, softening it to perfection.

Mix the eggs in a bowl with the sugar until well blended.

Melt 60g butter and allow to cool for a few minutes

Meanwhile, stir the flour into the egg mixture until reaching a smooth batter. Slowly pour the butter, vanilla extract and milk into it while stirring constantly.

Butter a round tart dish, dust it with flour and place the cherries into the dish. Pour the batter on top and scatter pieces of shaved butter for a nice shiny crust.

Place in the oven and bake for about 35-40 mins, until the top looks nice and golden.

Now let me share with you a family secret: halfway through the baking, sprinkle one teaspoon of sugar on top of the clafoutis. This will add a delicious caramelized taste tout à fait exquis!

Serve warm or cold. Keep it in the fridge overnight if, for some strange reason, you have not finished it on the day.

Cook the rhubarb with half the caster sugar and vanilla in a saucepan for 20 minutes, until tender. Whiz it smooth with a hand blender and let it cool.

Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until the mixture becomes cream coloured and doubles in volume. Gently fold in the rhubarb.

In a separate bowl, whisk the mascarpone and single cream together into soft peaks. If they are very cold they will whip more easily so place them in the freezer 30 minutes before using. Mix 1/3 of the whipped cream into the rhubarb and egg mixture then gently fold in the remaining. Pour the mixture into a container and leave it in the freezer for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, whiz the strawberries and icing sugar together with a hand blender. Don’t try to make it absolutely smooth, it is always nice to find small bits of fruits in your ice cream. Take the cream out of the freezer and check the consistency. It should be soft but thick. If it is too liquid, leave it for another hour. Once it has the right consistency, pour the strawberry puree over and mix it imperfectly with the cream, making nice pink ribbons across the cream with the help of a spoon and making sure you reach out deep.

Place back in the freezer and chill for a few more hours or overnight.

Separate the egg whites from the yolks.

Beat two of the egg yolks with the cream, until reaching the consistency of thick stirred yogurt (best to use an electric whisk if you have one). Be patient, this can take a good 5 minutes.

Pick the mint leaves from the stalks and chop finely.

Beat the egg whites into soft peaks. You know you have reached this stage when peaks with a top that curls over are formed.

Add a ¼ of the cream mixture to the melted chocolate and mix with a spoon, then pour the remaining  mixture and stir in gently with a spatula.

Fold the egg whites into the mixture and about 2 tablespoons of the chopped mint.

Pour into individual serving glasses.

Serve immediately with fresh raspberries and a mint leaf on top (on the picture I used the tips of the sprigs), or store in the fridge for serving later. Enjoy!

Kids friendly version

If you are worried your children may find the mint off-putting, you can save some of the mousse before adding the mint for the adults.

To balance out the sweetness of the white chocolate, crush a few raspberries into a coulis with a sprinkle of sugar.

Then fill individual glasses by alternating dollops of mousse and a bit of the raspberry coulis.

Finish off each glass by making a couple of eight-shaped swirls in the mousse with the back of a teaspoon to make beautiful pink ribbons.

Serve with fresh raspberries on top. This dessert will not only be a visual feast for your highly discerning little customers, but will also be a guaranteed success! By the way, this can also be a lovely variation for grown ups.

Pour the olive oil slowly into the orange purée while whizzing constantly, until obtaining a thick and creamy texture.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs into an omelette, then add the sugar little by little while beating continuously. Beat until the mixture thickens and becomes cream-coloured. Add the almond and vanilla extracts and give it a last whipping.

Using a spatula, stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture in three stages, alternating with the orange purée. You should obtain a thick, homogenous batter with fine grains of orange skin.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Butter (or oil, for a completely dairy-free version) the inside of a cake tin.  Sprinkle it with flour, turn it over and shake it so as to release the excess flour.

Pour the cake mixture into the tin and bake for about 45 minutes (a skewer dipped into the center of the cake should come out clean).

Wait 5 minutes before unmoulding. Once the cake is warm or cold, sprinkle with icing sugar. Serve it with a thick chocolate sauce (melt in the microwave 100 g good quality 70% cocoa dark chocolate, 30 g lightly salted butter and 5 tablespoons water), if you enjoy the taste of chocolate and orange together.