Raspberry Charlotte Russe

It was the French who came up with this delightful combination of richly flavoured cream and light, crisp biscuits. But piling it high with raspberries gives it a best-of-British, summertime flavour.

Preparation time :	45 minutes, plus 4 hours chilling
Cooking time :	15 minutes
Total time :	1 hour, plus 4 hours chilling

Makes: 4

Ingredients

Filling
3 Gelatine leaves
400g Raspberries
30g Icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
284ml Double cream
40g Caster sugar
3 Egg yolks
300ml Milk
½ Vanilla pods, split

Biscuits
3 Eggs
170g Caster sugar
½ Vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out
140g Plain flour

Method

1. Bake the biscuits - Preheat the oven to 220˚C/gas 7 and line two baking trays with baking parchment. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with 140g caster sugar and the vanilla seeds for 8–10 minutes, until the egg mixture is pale, thick and fluffy. Sieve half the flour over and fold in. Repeat with the rest of the flour. Using a piping bag fitted with a 1/2cm nozzle, pipe 7cm-long fingers of the mixture onto the baking sheets. Sprinkle with the remaining 30g caster sugar and bake for 5–7 minutes.
2. Make the custard - Mix the sugar and egg yolks together in a bowl. Heat the milk and 1/2 vanilla pod together in a pan, until the mixture is scalding hot but not boiling. Pour the hot milk onto the egg mixture, stirring all the time. Rinse out the pan, then pour the custard back in. Over a low heat, stir the custard until it thickens to coat the back of a spoon. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for a few minutes. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine, add to the custard and stir thoroughly until it dissolves. Strain into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to cool.
3. Finish the bavarois - Line four 8cm-wide, 6cm-deep pudding moulds or ramekins with clingfilm. In a blender, purée 300g raspberries with the icing sugar. Lightly whip the double cream and fold it into the custard, then stir in the raspberry purée. Divide the bavarois between the four moulds and chill for 4 hours, or overnight, until firm.
4. Plate up - To serve, remove the bavarois from the moulds by turning each one upside down onto a plate and carefully peeling away the clingfilm. Surround each bavarois with biscuits, held in place vertically with a ribbon. Pile the remaining raspberries on top and dust with icing sugar.