Looking to spoil Mum this Sunday with a super yummy pudding? Try your hand at our Gin Garden Dessert.
This recipe is made up of a lavender and honey mousse, gin soaked garden berries, chocolate soil and edible flowers. It’s a great recipe because it looks much more complicated that it actually is! If you are making this with little ones simply leave out the gin for their pots or alternatively, make it alcohol free (it still tastes amazing!).
Start with the berries. For this you will need:
200ml water
100g Sugar
50ml Gordon Castle Gin
400g mixed garden berries
Bring the water and sugar to the boil (add the Gin in now if you don’t want it to be so tipsy), and set aside to cool. When it’s at room temperature, glug it all over your berries. I’ve used blueberry, raspberry and garden redcurrants for mine, but any and all will come to life in the gin syrup.
Next, move onto the mousse. For this you will need…
A dozen fresh lavender heads
100g honey
500ml double cream
3 egg yolks
2 gelatin leaves
200ml milk
Put the lavender heads, gelatin and milk into a pan. Heat gently with a lid on, when it come to a near boil, remove the pan from the heat and wrap the top with cling film, this will keep the flavour and aroma in. This process can be used to infuse milk with nearly any flavour, if you wish to be even more experimental. Leave the pan to rest and Infuse like this for at least half an hour.
Once rested, strain the pan in to another and put it back on to a gentle heat.
Meanwhile in a mixing bowl, beat your egg and honey until it turns a brilliant thick fluffy white. Slowly beat in your hot infused milk, once incorporated put the mix into a thick bottomed pan (this will stop your airy custard from getting a heat shock and splitting). Put it on a low gentle heat, and stir with a wooden spoon, once its thickened enough to coat the back of your spoon, remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Whisk your double cream until it’s just past a soft peak, and is just able to hold its shape. Gently fold about a quarter of your cream into the custard, when its consistency lightens you begin to fold the custard in to the cream (this process allows you to keep more air in the mousse as the less folds you make to the cream, the more air you’ll keep in).
And for the soil…
200g sugar
100ml water
200g dark chocolate
50g dark cocoa powder
Put the sugar and water in a thick bottomed pan and bring to the boil, then, reduce the heat, once the water evaporates your caramel can burn quickly, use a sugar temperature probe and once the sugar hits 120c stir in your cocoa and chocolate. The sudden drop in temperature causes the sugar to crystallise with the chocolate and viola. Every pastry chefs favourite plate sprinkle.
To finish, put it together…
We’ve used little ceramic flower pots but any bowl, mug, jug or glass will work. Spoon the boozy berries in and your mousse on top, and generously cover it in the chocolate soil.
So when we first created this it was the height of summer and we had lots of fresh flowers to choose from! As it’s March there isn’t much around so unless you have some potted plants indoors (although don’t go taking all the heads of Mum’s prize plants!), why not decorate the top with berries which you can buy in your local supermarket.
