Last summer I found this great recipe in a free magazine from our local Carrefour supermarket in France. I was drawn to the pretty pink dessert like a magpie to sparkly things (as is always the case with me and girly, summery treats) and painstakingly translated the recipe when I got home. I was planning to make it for my guests to enjoy with a glass of bubbly at my upcoming birthday BBQ. Unfortunately, however, I encountered two insurmountable problems along the way: the weather last June was about as good as it is now so my BBQ was rained off, and, more importantly, one of the ingredients turned out to be unavailable in the UK!! Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon the elusive missing ingredient - biscuits roses de reims - in a French supermarket last weekend. Et voila! I can now give this beautiful strawberry, vanilla cream cake a test run before summer finally decides to make an appearance... 

What you'll need: 

250g of strawberries, tailed and cut into two

275g of Biscuits Roses de Reims (I'm using Maison Fossier's)

2 egg yolks

250g of mascarpone 

80g of sugar

1 sachet of vanilla sugar (about a tablespoon)

8 tbsp cane sugar syrup - you can use Golden Syrup or sirop de canne

2 tbsp white rum 

2 sprigs of mint
A square or rectangular serving dish - I use a flat serving plate with decorative edges, measuring 8 by 13 inches. 

This is what you do: 

1. Mix the syrup in a bowl with the rum.

2. Cover a square or rectangular dish with a large piece of cling film, enough to wrap back over the top of the dessert and tuck round the edges. 

3. Whisk the yolks, sugar and vanilla sugar, with an electric whisk until the mixture whitens, then add the mascarpone, whipping a little faster until thoroughly mixed in. 

4. Wash the strawberries, drain, and tail them and cut into two. 

5. Lightly dip the biscuits in the rum syrup and place a first layer of biscuits in the bottom of the dish. Spread a layer of cream, then a layer of strawberries, placing the cut side flat on the cream. Add another layer of cream and finish with a layer of biscuits, dipped in the rum syrup in the same way as the first layer.

6. Fold the cling film over the biscuits, pressing lightly on them to push into the cream. 

7. Refrigerate for (at least) 4 hours. When ready to serve, decorate with the mint. Servez! 

My attempt - delicious with a glass of Champagne

Bon appetit! :-)