Brought up working in her father’s London pastry shop, Geraldine Randlesome developed a taste for quality desserts. Decades later, she still uses the recipes for her dad’s fragrant cakes, eggnog custards and mince pies, although her specialty leans toward chocolate truffles, rich ganaches and buttercream-filled gâteaux. She creates a new truffle flavour annually: one festive addition (a cranberry–white chocolate–ginger bonbon) was equally scrumptious in candy form or as a filling tucked inside a moist ginger cake. But lighter flavourings, says Randlesome, such as buttery lemon curd and tangy passion fruit cream, are best for summer, as are the fresh fruit toppings that now outsell iced flowers.