The English strawberries are the sweetest!

Despite the dreadful wind and rain that we have been having my strawberry patch has survived and produced lots of sweet tasting fruit amongst the mouldy berries hanging forlornly on the vines. I reckon I have picked and enjoyed the same amount as I have had to chuck on the compost heap, even when they were hanging off the ground they have gone brown and soft in the wet. 

However there have been enough to make a Sunday teatime treat and a few pots of jam!

This is a simple recipe which can be made in a few minutes and is perfect for freshly picked strawberries or raspberries and currants. I have made it in the winter with frozen raspberries too and it works very well if you defrost the raspberries on kitchen paper first to soak up the juices. 

I use a fatless sponge recipe ( we add the fat later with ladles of freshly whipped double cream!) which is so easy and light. It needs to be eaten the day you make it or the one after as it doesn't store. It takes five minutes to prepare - all the same numbers so you can make any size you want. This cake is 4 oz caster sugar, 4 large eggs, 4 oz self raising flour. You whisk the eggs with the sugar until fluffy, sift and fold in the flour and pour into a greased and lined tin (the egg makes it stick) and put in a medium oven until the cake is firm in the middle when you press your finger gently on the surface - usually about half an hour. When it is cooled on a rack I spread home made jam over it and place on the fruit and sprinkle with icing sugar. It works really well with different jams - blackcurrant jam or jelly is delicious with raspberries for example... a stand by pud which never fails to have the wow factor!

A few of my Alpine strawberries self seeded into the strawberry bed - I moved them out last year as they were taking over and put them in pots. I think I love these little semi wild fruit the best - their flavour after a day in the sun is just fantastic, almost the taste of flowers, perfumed and sweet. They are delicious in salads, on their own with lemon and sugar or in any strawberry jam or icecream. 

Here is a small gathering I made to put in my yogurt for breakfast. I made this little pottery collander too - it makes gathering and washing small quantities of fruit such a pleasure. A quick rinse under the tap and then let them stand whilst you shower - such a delicious breakfast!