Wash and hull the strawberries and leave to drain. Reserve a few for decoration then finely chop the rest and mix well with the icing sugar so that they release their juices.

For the ladyfingers:

Make an espresso coffee (with instant coffee if you do not have espresso) and pour into the hot milk. Add the vanilla syrup and mix all together with a little cinnamon, if using.

Briefly dip the ladyfingers into the milk and coffee mixture and lay in a deep glass dish of approximate size 20 cm.

Spread over half the rice pudding followed by the chopped strawberries and top with the remaining rice pudding.

Refrigerate until cold. Before serving, sprinkle with a little cinnamon and sugar, if liked.

Garnish with the halved, reserved strawberries.