Ten-minute trifle
For 4, (and it is even better the next day)

10 sponge fingers, broken into 2.5 cm pieces
250ml chilled sweet white wine, such as Moscato or half sherry
100g raspberries, loganberries or blackberries
2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
2 eggs, separated
50g caster sugar
224g Mascarpone cheese
a little vanilla extract or brandy

Put the sponge fingers in a 1.1 litre/2 pint dish. You can use that cut-glass thing Auntie Connie gave you if you must, but the trifle looks far more elegant in a plain white china bowl. Pour over the wine, gently pressing the fingers down into the liquid, then throw in the raspberries or other berries and the bananas.
Cream the egg yolks with the sugar, add the Mascarpone and beat with an electric whisk till light and creamy. Tip in the vanilla or brandy. Whisk the egg whites till they form stiff peaks and fold gently but thoroughly into the cream. Tip the Mascarpone cream over the fruit and sponge. Shake the bowl gently for a few seconds.

Hot blackcurrant bread and butter pudding
For 2

Butter 4 thin slices of white bread very generously. I think you had better remove the crusts. Lay half of them in the bottom of a shallow ovenproof dish. Cover with 250g thawed blackcurrants, or fresh topped and tailed ones if you have them, and sprinkle rather lavishly with caster sugar, about 2 tablespoons. You can use raw cane brown sugar if it makes you feel better, but it will change the flavour of the finished dish.
Place the remaining buttered bread, butter side up, over the currants, sprinkle with a little more sugar and 2 tablespoons cassis, eau de vie or Cognac and dot with a bit more butter. Bake in a preheated oven, 220C/425F (gas mark 7), for 20-25 minutes, until the blackcurrants have started to burst and their glorious juices have stained the bread. The result is juicy bread reminiscent of summer pudding underneath the crisp top. Serve with pouring cream.

Strawberries with syllabub sauce
For 4

100g caster sugar
300 ml double cream
4 tbsps Marsala or medium dry sherry
1 tsp vanilla extract (not essence)
juice and finely grated zest of 1 orange
450g strawberries

Put the sugar, cream, Marsala or sherry, extract, juice and zest in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric whisk till thick and creamy, but not actually stiff. Remove the stalks and leaves from the strawberries; cut the fruit into quarters. Put them in the bottom of four large balloon wine glasses or small china bowls.
Spoon the syllabub mixture over the strawberries. Refrigerate till needed.

Peach Melba

People scoff at peach Melbas. And well they might, there is something deeply tacky about such things. But a peach Melba can be a thing of joy. But there are rules:
1 The peach must be ripe. It must never have seen a tin
2 The peach should be poached lightly in vanilla-scented syrup
3 The sauce should be made from puréed raspberries or blackberries. There is no reason why they shouldn't have been frozen at some point
4 The ice cream should be vanilla, not Neapolitan, and should be of the very best quality. None of your 'soft scoop Cornish'
5 It should really be called pêches Melba

For 4
4 ripe peaches
2 tbsps caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
225g raspberries or blackberries
very good vanilla ice cream

Place the whole peaches in a saucepan with just enough water to cover them. Throw in the sugar and the vanilla pod. Bring to the boil and poach them in simmering water for 8-10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. The peaches are ready when their skins peel off easily. Be careful not to damage the fruit. Cut each one in half and ease out the stone. Place the peach halves in a cool place.

Get four glass bowls as cold as you can. Whizz the berries in the food processor until they are puréed (you can sieve them to remove the pips if you wish). If you want a sweeter result now is the time to get the icing sugar out. Place a large, solid ball of ice cream in each chilled dish. Place two halves of peach each side of the ice cream, then drizzle over some of the berry purée.

Warm red fruit compote

For 4
225g redcurrants
100g blackcurrants
4 tbsps sugar
450g raspberries, loganberries or tayberries

Put the currants, having first removed their stalks, into a stainless steel saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water and the sugar. Bring slowly to the boil. When the currants start to burst and flood the pan with colour, then tip in the raspberries, loganberries or whatever. Simmer for 2 minutes, no longer, and serve them warm, in a white china dish.

The Wine List

With the ten-minute trifle
2000 Chiarlo 'Nivole', Moscato d'Asti (£4.49 per half, Oddbins)
A fresh, sherbet and citrus fruit-like Italian white with only 5.5% alcohol and a refreshing life of bubbles. Like squeezing fresh grapes on to your tongue.

With the hot blackcurrant bread and butter pudding
Warre's Otima 10-year Old Tawny Port (£9.99, Wine Rack, Bottoms Up, Thresher, Sainsbury's)
A sweet, attractively venerable port with notes of dates, raisins and fresh coffee. Make sure you chill this right down. Elegant stuff, despite the alcoholic upper cut.

With the strawberries with syllabub sauce
1989 Waldracher Krone Auslese, Peter Scherf (£5.99, Majestic)
German whites are often overlooked as dessert wines, but this is a stunner, showing mature flavours of coconut, honey and blackcurrant. The sweetness is balanced by pinpoint acidity.

With the warm red fruit compote
Banrock Sparkling Shiraz (£7.99, Tesco)
Sparkling red wines aren't to everyone's taste, but if you're going to serve one, this is the dessert to do it with. This is frothy, slightly oaky and sweet, with assertive flavours of blackberries and mulberries.

With the peach melba
1997 Château Vignal Labrie, Monbazillac (£8.99, Waitrose)
Monbazillac is sometimes regarded as a poor man's Sauterne, but this partially oak-aged dessert wine, showing the honeycomb and peach characters of botrytised grapes, is excellent in its own right.
Tim Atkin