Some Simple Desserts

Pears with hot chocolate sauce. Bake halved pears in the oven, sprinkled with a little brown sugar to caramelize, until hot and soft. Serve with a rich chocolate sauce made by melting a bar of chopped dark chocolate, some single cream and a knob of butter in a bowl over simmering water.

Drunken summer fruits. Mix together a selection of red berries, dust liberally with icing sugar and drizzle equally liberally with crème de framboise (raspberry liqueur) or crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur).

Roast pineapple with Malibu custard cream. Roast chunks of pineapple with some butter and caster sugar in a medium oven until just softening, basting from time to time to almost caramelize. Mix together bought custard, whipped cream and a splash of Malibu and serve the chilled cream with the hot pineapple.