Cider berries with vanilla syrup

Ingredients

300 g	Strawberries (Main)
1 cup	Cider, Old Mout Boysencider (Main)
1 cup	Cream, softly whipped
12	Sponge fingers

Lemon curd

½ cup	Caster sugar
3	Eggs, yolks
50 g	Butter, cubed
2 tsp	Lemons, zest
100 ml	Lemon juice

Vanilla syrup

½ cup	Caster sugar
1	Vanilla bean
½ cup	Water

Directions

1. Hull the berries, slice and leave to marinate in the cider for 1 hour.
2. To make the curd; whisk the yolks and sugar. Pour into a heavy based saucepan. Add the butter, zest and juice. Stir constantly over a gentle heat until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from the heat and let cool.
3. To make the syrup; split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into a saucepan. Mix with the water and sugar, bring to a simmer while stirring to dissolve the sugar. After 5 minutes, remove from the heat and let cool.
4. Arrange the sponge fingers and cider marinated berries, spooning over the juices. Spoon over the curd and drizzle with the vanilla syrup. Add a little softly whipped cream if desired.