Cider berries with vanilla syrup

Cider berries with vanilla syrup. Photo / Babiche Martens

Serves 4

300g strawberries
1 cup Old Mout Boysencider
12 sponge finger biscuits
Softly whipped cream

Lemon curd
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup caster sugar
50g butter, cubed
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
100ml lemon juice

Vanilla syrup
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup caster sugar

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.