Oh so fruity!

The word ‘dessert’ although tempting, induces a feeling of guilt. But what if you add the goodness of seasonal fruits to your sinful indulgences?

Peach buttermilk cake

Ingredients: One and a half cups of maida; 4 peach halves, chopped; 3 peach halves, sliced; ¾ cup of cream; ½ tsp of baking powder; 2 pinches of salt; 6 tbsps of softened butter; 1 cup plus 2 tbsps of sugar; 1 egg; ½ cup buttermilk and a tsp of vanilla extract.

Method: Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease the cake pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk maida, baking powder and set aside. Beat the butter and a cup of sugar. Stir in egg, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Gently start adding the dry mix into the wet mix to make a smooth batter. Add chopped peaches in the batter and fold. Pour the batter in the cake pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Once cooled, layer the cake with whipped cream and peach slices.

Pineapple cheesecake

Ingredients: For the base, 15 digestive biscuits and 5 tbsps of melted butter. For the cheesecake, 225 gm of hung curd; 200 ml of heavy cream; 1 cup of pineapple pieces; 2 to 3 drops of pineapple essence; 2½ tbsps of unflavoured gelatin; 6 to 7 tbsps, of powdered sugar and ½ cup of water. For the compote, 1½ cups of pineapple pieces; ¾ cup of pineapple syrup; ¼ cup of sugar; a few strands of saffron and a tbsp of cornflour.

Method: Crumb the digestive biscuits in a blender. Add melted butter, pulse it again. Put the prepared base into a greased pan and make a uniform crumb base. Refrigerate for 30 to 45 minutes. For the compote, in a pan, add all the ingredients except the cornflour. Cook the mixture until half of the water dries up. Add the cornflour and mix well until it thickens. Take it off the heat and cool. For the cheesecake, sprinkle gelatin over ¼ cup of water in a bowl. Allow it to bloom. In a bowl, whip the cream with sugar until it reaches the stiff peak. Now add the hung curd and pineapple essence into the whipped cream. Fold it well. Add the gelatin in a small pan and heat it for a minute to dissolve it. Take it off the heat and cool it. Add the gelatin to the curd-cream mixture. Fold it in. Add the pineapple and mix. Pour the mixture over the base. Refrigerate until set.

Cherry Eton mess

Ingredients: Two egg whites; 1 tsp of lemon juice; 1 cup of castor sugar; 1 cup of cherries; ½ cup of sugar and 1 cup of whipped cream.

Method: In a mixer, beat egg whites with lemon juice until they double in volume. With the mixer on high speed, add a tbsp of sugar at a time. Beat until stiff peaks form. Pipe the meringue on a lined baking sheet and bake at 100°C for an hour to make meringue kisses. In a saucepan, cook cherries with sugar until the cherries. Let it cool. In a glass, layer whipped cream, cherries and crushed meringue kisses.

(Recipes courtesy Del Monte)