You don’t need to serve a 10 course tasting meal to show mum you care

Mother’s Day is celebrated in the UK, Ireland and Nigeria at this time, while the rest of the world mark it on the second Sunday in May. No matter the geography there is much commercialism surrounding this special day. We’re bombarded with adverts for flowers, cards, perfume, chocolates and days out. The expectation is to take your mum out for lunch or afternoon tea. Rather than face the hoards and spend a fortune, why not break out the baking bowl and do a fancy treat at home? You don’t need to serve a 10 course tasting menu - keep it simple.

Hot scones straight from the oven are a real crowd pleaser. Add cheese to the mix and you have something even better. The scone recipe is perfectly nice on its own, split and spread with butter but I’ve added a herb cream cheese topping for even more oomph. Serve as they are or top with some parma ham or smoked salmon for something a little more decadent. You could also serve the scones hot as part of a platter. Arrange some cold meats, cheeses, olives, tomatoes, hummus and have the warm scones in a basket on the side. A cup of tea or glass of something sparkling will make an ideal accompaniment.

Something sweet afterwards is essential. The recipe here is for a chocolate meringue cake with raspberries. The meringue part is flavoured with cocoa and also has some melted chocolate folded into the mix. The sugar in the mix is a combination of icing and castor that gives the finished article an extra crispness. The meringue is spread or piped in a rectangular shape on a parchment lined tray before baking . Its then layered with a vanilla cream with frozen raspberries added. There isn’t much locally grown fruit around at the moment. We’re heading into the time known as the “hungry gap” where the seasons collide and we wait for an abundance of late spring produce. Frozen fruit is perfectly acceptable and works well here as it melts and nearly self sauces the vanilla cream. If you have some blackberries or blackcurrants knocking around in your freezer they’d go very well too. The whole thing is topped with a rich chocolate sauce made with cream, dark chocolate and glucose. If you really want to knock the ball out of the park serve some ice-cream with the meringue cake and keep the chocolate sauce hot.

Mothering Sunday comes at just the right time before all the rush of Easter and gives us a good excuse to get together. Whatever you cook or do cherish it.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mum Rae especially as I have to work tomorrow. But in the words of the wise owl, Mr Hugo Duncan - “it’s like the wheelbarrow, you have it ahead of you!”