​I cannot remember the last time I baked a whole cake. At least, I don’t think I have made one since I moved to Belfast. I definitely bake less during summer time and tend to privilege fruit salads, ice creams and sorbets for dessert. But I do like the scent of summer fruit cooking and bubbling in a crumble or clafoutis such as this cherry and dark chocolate one or this version with raspberries and white chocolate. 

​My fruit bowl on the kitchen counter has seen a serious rotation of raspberries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, blueberries and strawberries over the summer. They have been mostly eaten as they are and sometimes added to a weekend smoothie with frozen bananas, almond milk or coconut water. But lately, I found myself wanting to bake a few things. It could be a combination of the weather cooling down and wanting to take advantage of all the wonderful produce before summer fruit season ends.

​I recently took a last minute decision to book a long summer weekend in London. The goal was to relax, take my mind off things for a bit and catch up with some lovely friends.
There was a long weekend here in Northern Ireland mid-July and I could have picked somewhere I had not visited before but I was in need of something familiar. Having been to London many times over the past few years, it was the perfect place to spend a mini break.