Make the most of strawberry season with Rachel Allen’s summer recipes including a divine cake and boozy jellies

For a lovely light ending to a summer’s meal, try these strawberry and red wine jellies, below. Made using a light red wine such as pinot noir, these can be made today and served tomorrow for a really handy entertaining treat.

The strawberry and rose meringues, also below, make the most of the sunny combination that is strawberries and all things rose. Use rose water in the cream and scatter (unsprayed) rose petals over the top when serving for a delicious bit of sweetness.

Make all the elements earlier in the day if you wish, then assemble at the last minute for the best result.

And for a summery bake, try this divine strawberry and almond cake recipe. The ground almonds bring a lovely nuttiness and moisture to the cake, while the vanilla and strawberries round off the flavour just perfectly.

Enjoy a slice with a cup of tea or a sweet glass of dessert wine, and savour every morsel.

Strawberry and almond cake

Serves 6-8

You will need:

• 150g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing the tin
• 150g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 50ml milk
• 150g self-raising flour, sifted
• 150g ground almonds
• 150g strawberries, cut into quarters
• 25g flaked almonds
• Icing sugar, for dusting

​1 Preheat the oven to 180C (160 fan), 350F, Gas 4.

2 Butter the sides of a 20cm springform cake tin and line the base with a disc of baking parchment.

3 Cream the softened butter until very soft in a large bowl or an electric food mixer. Add the caster sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

4 Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl with the vanilla extract for a few seconds, then gradually add to the creamed butter mixture, beating all the time. Next, beat in the milk, then add the sifted self-raising flour and the ground almonds, carefully folding these in until they are just mixed.

5 Add the quartered strawberries and fold them in gently, so as not to break them up.

6 Tip the cake batter into the prepared tin, then scatter over the flaked almonds.

7 Bake in the preheated oven for 50–55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

8 Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Use a small, sharp knife to loosen the edges, then carefully remove the cake from the tin, peeling off the paper from the base. Transfer to a serving plate.

9 Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Rachel Recommends

To make a fresh strawberry sauce that’s ideal for drizzling over ice creams, puddings and sparkling wine, just blend fresh or frozen berries with enough lemon juice and sugar to season, then push through a sieve.

Strawberry and red wine jellies

Serves 4

You will need:

• 3 gelatine sheets
• 75g sugar
• 110ml water
• 150ml light fruity red wine, such as a burgundy, pinot noir or beaujolais
• 200g strawberries

​​1 Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl and cover them with plenty of cold water. Allow them to sit for about 5 minutes, until the gelatine has softened.

2 While the gelatine is softening, put the sugar and the 110ml of water in a saucepan and place it over a medium heat. Stir together just until the water is boiling and the sugar has dissolved, then take the syrup off the heat.

3 Take the gelatine sheets out of the water and add them to the hot syrup, stirring to mix.

4 Pour the red wine into the syrup and mix well.

5 Slice the strawberries.

6 Pour the red-wine jelly mixture into glasses until they are two-thirds full, then divide the sliced strawberries between the glasses. Place in the fridge to set. This will take about 2-3 hours.

7 Serve chilled from the fridge.

Top Tip

Save some surplus strawberries for a rainy day’s baking by freezing them, making sure to remove the hull (the green calyx) first.

Strawberry and rose meringue

Serves 6

You will need:

• 4 large egg whites
• 225g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornflour

​For the topping you will need:

• 400g small strawberries
• 3 tablespoons rose water
• 200ml cream, whipped
• Seeds from half a vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 20g icing sugar

​1 Preheat the oven to 150C, 300F, Gas 2. Draw 6 circles that have a diameter of 10cm on the underside of a sheet of parchment paper. Use this sheet of parchment paper to line a baking tray.

2 To make the meringue, put the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer, or add them to a large mixing bowl and use an electric hand whisk. Whisk the whites until they start to form soft peaks.

3 Add a spoonful of the caster sugar and whisk until well combined with the egg whites. Continue in this way, adding a spoonful of caster sugar at a time and whisking it in, until all the sugar has been added. Then very briefly whisk in the cornflour.

4 Spoon the meringue mixture evenly onto the circles you have drawn on the parchment paper. Spread it out to the edges of each circle, making sure the meringue nests you create are a little higher around the edge than in the middle. Pop in the preheated oven, then immediately turn the oven down to 120C, 250F, Gas ½, and cook for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and leave the meringues to cool in the oven.

5 While the meringues are cooking, prepare the topping. Hull the strawberries, halve them and put them in a bowl. Drizzle over the rose water and toss the strawberries to coat them well with the liquid. Leave them to macerate for a couple of hours while the meringues cook and cool — this will imbue the strawberries with a delicate rose flavour.

6 Put the whipped cream and the vanilla seeds or the vanilla extract, whichever you’re using, in a bowl and whisk until thickened, then gently stir in the icing sugar. You can do this a little in advance and store in the fridge until needed.

7 To assemble, spoon the macerated strawberries evenly into the dip in the centre of the cooled meringue nests, drizzling any excess rose water over them so that it seeps into the meringue and flavours it. Top the strawberries with a spoonful of the whipped cream. If you have some unsprayed rose petals, scatter them over the top of the meringue nests. Serve immediately.