Recipe | Midsommartårta

A Midsommartårta (Midsummer Strawberry Cake) is always enjoyed at midsummer festivities in Sweden – this light version is moreishly bite-sized, so don't expect any left at the end of the party...

Makes 8-12 cakes

You will need

6 egg whites
A pinch of sea salt
150g golden caster sugar
2 tsp rose water (or 1 tbsp ground dried rose petals)
150g ground almonds
A little olive or coconut oil, to grease the pan
300ml double cream
1kg strawberries, hulled
4 tbsp strawberry, raspberry or rhubarb jam
To serve: Edible flowers and wild berries

To make

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. Whip the egg whites with a pinch of sea salt until glossy and meringuelike then gradually add the sugar, whipping until it holds a medium peak. Whisk in the rose water.

2 Shake in the ground almonds slowly, whisking to keep the air in the whites.

3 Brush the inside of a muffin tin or a mini bundt tin with a little oil. Divide the batter between the holes in the tin, filling each just to the top – you should have 8-12 cakes.

4 Slide into the centre of the oven and bake for 12 mins, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool for 5-10 mins before removing from the tin.

5 While the cakes cool, trim the green tops from the strawberries, halve or quarter any larger berries. Mix with the jam and set aside. Whip the cream until just thickened.

6 Once the cakes have cooled, run a knife around the edges to help release them from the tin. If the cakes are a little pale on top, you can flash them in the oven. Upturn to lightly toast them on the top or until lightly golden.

Serve with the strawberries and cream and garnish with edible flowers (and/or wild berries, if you can find some). Cook’s note: The cakes are best served on the day of making but they’ll keep in an airtight tin (once fully cooled) for 1–2 days. You can also freeze, defrost in the fridge and flash in a warm oven to take the chill off, before serving.

This recipe, by Rachel de Thample, is part of our ‘Midsummer Feast’ ‘gathering menu. It features Scandi dishes including Cold Cucumber Soup with Summer Flowers, Roast Beetroot Salad with Crispy Capers, Home Pickled Herring with Fennel, Pommes Anna with Dill Sour Cream and Ryeknäckebröd with Caraway. There’s also an idea for a Meadowsweet and Strawberry Schnapps to wash it all down. Midsummer Feast, it may be, but we think you can enjoy it any day this summer. If you’re making a day of it you may also like to try your hand at the Floral Crowns or some of the other Midsummer traditions on the pages. All in the June issue.

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Recipe | Honeysuckle Posset & Fennel shortbread

The nectar of honeysuckle flowers is sweet and alluring (just ask the bees) and adds a floral perfume to this posset recipe. A sweet way to end a summer lunch or dinner

Serves 6

For the posset :
450ml double cream
2 handfuls honeysuckle flowers, petals removed and refridgerated
125g honey, plus an extra teaspoon
Juice of 1 lemon

For the shortbread :
125g unsalted butter, softened
65g icing sugar
2 tsp fennel seeds, dry roasted and crushed
65g cornflour
125g plain flour

1 For the posset, place the cream, chopped honeysuckle flower bases and honey into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to infuse until cool.

2 Stir in the lemon juice before straining the mixture through a sieve. Pour into six small glasses or jars and chill in the fridge overnight.

3 To make the shortbread, cream together butter and icing sugar and then stir in the fennel seeds. Sieve the cornflour and flour together and combine with the butter/sugar mix and form into a log around 5cm in diameter. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate until firm, at least an hour.

4 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 5. Take the dough out of the fridge and unwrap, then slice the log into ½cm circles. Transfer them to a greased baking tray and bake for 15-20 mins until just golden.

5 Cool on the tray for 10 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

6 Remove possets from fridge. Brush the remaining honeysuckle petals with the teaspoon of honey and divide between the six possets as a garnish. Serve with the shortbread.

This recipe is part of our series on edible flowes, which we’ve called ‘Pick n Mix’, by Lottie Storey. This month we’re using honeysuckle and lemon verbena to make the pud above as well as a honeysuckle vodka and lemonade, heritage tomato and lemon verbena salad, and herby fish en papilotte.

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