Knickerbocker glory dessert

Ingredients (serves 4) 

• 1 mango, peeled, stone removed, flesh cut into cubes
• 250 g mixed berries
• ¼ cup fresh orange juice
• 4 scoops good-quality vanilla ice-cream
• Icing sugar, to dust

Strawberry jelly

• 2 punnets strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
• 80 g caster sugar
• 2½ tbsp verjuice
• 3½ leaves gold-strength gelatine

Meringue

• 2 egg whites, at room temperature
• 130 g caster sugar

Sponge

• 5 eggs
• 120 g sugar
• 120 g plain flour

Chantilly cream

• 1 cup thickened cream
• ¼ cup icing sugar mixture
• ½ vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped

Method
For the strawberry jelly, place the strawberries and sugar in a heatproof bowl and wrap the bowl tightly in plastic fi lm. Place over a saucepan of simmering water and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until a pool of liquid forms in the bowl. Remove from the pan and strain the liquid through a fine-meshed sieve. Place the strawberry liquid, 1⁄3 cup water and the verjuice in a small heavy-based saucepan and heat to 80ºC on a sugar thermometer. Remove from the heat. Soften the gelatine in cold water for 30 seconds, then squeeze out any excess water. Add to the strawberry mixture and whisk until dissolved. Place in a container and put into the fridge until set.

For the meringue, preheat the oven to 120ºC. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Use an electric mixer to whisk the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl on high speed until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, a little at a time, whisking constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture forms firm peaks. Place the meringue in a piping bag fitted with a 15 mm nozzle and pipe long straight rows onto the tray. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until crisp and dry. Set aside on the tray to cool.
Increase the oven temperature to 170ºC.

To make the sponge, grease a round 18 cm cake tin with melted butter and line with baking paper. Use an electric mixer to whisk the eggs and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy.

Transfer to a mixing bowl, gently sift over some of the flour and lightly fold through. Continue adding the flour this way, folding in a little at a time to keep the mixture airy, until it is all incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 15 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the Chantilly cream, use an electric mixer to whisk the cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds to soft peaks. Use a spoon to break up the strawberry jelly. Rip the sponge into bite-sized pieces and break up the meringue. Layer the jelly, mango, mixed berries, sponge, meringue and Chantilly cream in four glasses, then drizzle with the orange juice and top with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Recipe and images from Matt’s Kitchen Garden Cookbook by Matt Moran

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