A summertime Christmas has many advantages when it comes to dessert.
I have two very different childhood memories of Christmas Day. One was hovering around Grandma watching her weave her magic with Christmas lunch, her attention focused on stoking the wet-back coal range.
A large aluminum steam pudding mould, lid clamped tight, would be jingling away in a saucepan of simmering
water, with her grandchildren very aware there was a whole month's worth of pocket money hidden inside. She would tell us that the coins were believed to bring wealth in the coming year.
The ignited brandy casting a blue hue over the surface of the pudding is still a very vivid memory.
I also recall arriving at my other nana's townhouse in Mission Bay for early Christmas dinner with dainty tea cakes on a silver embossed cake stand and a crystal glass bowl sitting centre stage on the dining room table. It contained nana's famous trifle - the recipe she'd been making for years, from way back when her family had lived in England. It was all pretty layers and sherry-soaked sponge - a flavour we children took a wee while to become accustomed to.
Dessert is traditionally the part of Christmas fare that adults are hesitant to tuck into for fear of the kilos to be gained. But it is the part kids will happily skip the salads and veges for to dive straight into.
In deciding my Christmas dessert offerings I'd start with looking at what is in season.
Christmas in the summer has its advantages like in-season cherries, berries, stonefruit and watermelon.
Place de-stoned cherries in a saucepan with a little sugar, a dash of port and a pinch of salt then boil until you have a conserve. Make a half-sized Swiss roll and spread with the cherry paste before rolling up.
Spray a mixing bowl with oil then line with two sheets of clingfilm. Cover with thin slices of Swiss roll then add layers of cherry jelly, vanilla mascarpone, fresh raspberries and leftover cherry conserve before topping with with more slices of Swiss roll. Leave to set in the refrigerator then turn out and cut into wedges.
Bake different pastel-coloured meringues, then break them into pieces and sandwich them back together with thickened cream, boysenberries, berry coulis and pieces of white chocolate - a great take on Eton Mess.
Italian zuccotto cake resembles a frozen trifle but is highlighted by candied citron and chocolate flakes.
Try making strawberry shortcake, with a tiny amount of rosemary added to the shortcake mixture, and served with a slab of vanilla-bean icecream and strawberries tossed with Pedro Ximenez sherry (Spanish dark sweet sherry) and a scattering of fried rosemary leaves on top.
Or, for a stunning dessert, try honey panna cotta with grilled, peeled fresh peach halves, a piece of honeycomb and smashed amoretti biscuits.
If time has run out, slightly soften hokey-pokey icecream and get the kids to fold in lumps of Christmas pudding. Re-freeze and serve with thick custard.
