We had 6 slightly over-ripe figs. We cut off the 'stalk' end and then cut the figs in half, before arranging them in a buttered dish. Next, they were sprinkled with demerara sugar and baked them in for gas mark 6 for 15 minutes. The original recipe said to sprinkle extra sugar on top and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes but we tasted the juice which had run off and it was sweet enough on its own, so we simply basted the figs with the juice before returning them to the oven for the final 5 minutes.

For the topping we stirred some vanilla essence into a few tablespoons of mascarpone.

The photo might not look terribly appetising but the figs and mascarpone were delicious. The combination of flavour, sweetness and creaminess was almost perfect.