This past weekend I was in Boston for a wedding. The night before, I met some old friends for a cookout and was thrilled when dessert was carried to the table: old-fashioned strawberry shortcake with spoonfuls of sweet berries and soft mounds of real whipped cream. It was heaven on earth! A few nights later, I was at my sister’s house and she made a similar dessert, but mixed the whipped cream with mascarpone cheese. Another celestial experience! It made me think about making a fruit tart for a dinner party I am planning for next week. It’s so easy to make a tart shell with frozen puff pasty and then spread the baked shell with pastry cream. This time I think I will use a variation on the whipped cream and mascarpone cheese mixture my sister made instead, and top it with sliced strawberries and peaches as well as raspberries and blueberries. Sounds good, doesn’t it? I will let you know how it turns out. Do you have any good ideas for easy summer desserts? Please share them!