Cherry & cardamom-rose bread pudding

1. Put the dried cherries in a small saucepan and add enough pomegranate juice to just cover. Bring to the boil, take off the hob and leave the cherries to sit and plump up (you need half an hour, but more is fine).

2. Bring the cream, milk and salt to the boil in a heavy-bottomed pan with the cardamom seeds. Beat the eggs, extra yolk and the sugar together. Pour the warm milk and cream onto this, stirring all the time.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Slice the brioche, butter it, then layer it in a 2-litre ovenproof dish, scattering the soaked cherries on top. Add some rose water to the egg and cream mixture – not too much – and a squeeze of lemon or lime, then taste it. You should be able to detect the rose water, but it shouldn’t be too strong. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the layers of bread. Leave the pudding to sit for half an hour – this just makes it lighter.

4. Put the dish into a roasting tin and add enough boiling water to the tin to come one-third to halfway up the sides of the dish. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until puffy and set on the top and golden in colour. Leave to cool slightly – it will continue to cook in the residual heat for a while – then dust with icing sugar.