by Jamie Oliver
1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
Preheat the oven to 350°F. For the sponge, grease a baking sheet (15 × 10 inches) with butter, line the bottom and sides with parchment paper, then lightly grease the paper. By hand or with an electric mixer, beat the eggs and superfine sugar until pale, thick, and creamy. Sift in half the flour and cocoa, very gently fold them in using a large metal spoon, then repeat with the rest. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and spread out evenly. Bake for 10 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Meanwhile, soften your ice cream in the fridge.
Place a large sheet of parchment paper on top of a clean damp kitchen towel, and evenly sprinkle over a thin layer of superfine sugar from a height. While it’s still hot and flexible, turn the sponge out onto the paper. Peel off and discard the baked piece of parchment. With one of the shortest sides in front of you, fold up the excess paper, then roll up the sponge with the paper inside (as it cools this will set the shape but prevent the sponge from cracking). Leave to cool.
For the fillings, finely grate the clementine zest into a bowl, squeeze in the juice, add a splash of kirsch and the jam, and mix well. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan until golden, then bash until fine. Whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold in the yogurt, vanilla bean paste, and sifted confectioner’s sugar. To assemble, unroll the sponge so it’s flat, removing the paper. Drizzle with kirsch, cover with a layer of cream, then dot over half the jam filling. Rustically spoon over the softened ice cream, leaving a 2-inch gap at one of the shorter ends, then dot over most of the remaining jam filling and most of the nuts. Carefully reroll—if the filling starts to slip out, just push it back in. Wrap well in parchment and freeze overnight, or until needed.
Get your Arctic roll out of the freezer and into the fridge 30 minutes before you’re ready to serve. Carefully trim the ends to give you nice edges, then brush over the remaining jam filling, dust with cocoa, and scatter over the remaining nuts. I like to decorate it with shavings of dark chocolate, fresh cherries, and gold leaf, too!
FRANGIPANE TART
HAZELNUTS, ALMONDS, CHOCOLATE, & SOUR CRANBERRIES
A good frangipane tart is one of life’s true joys and a staple dessert in my repertoire. Feel free to swap out the sauce for different seasonal jams to make your tart really of the moment, making it super-versatile. Here’s my festive version.
SERVES 12–14
2 HOURS 15 MINUTES
PLUS COOLING
PASTRY
11 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold), plus extra for greasing
12⁄3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
½ cup superfine sugar
1 large egg
1⁄3 cup quality unsweetened cocoa powder
SAUCE
10 oz unsweetened dried cranberries
4 oranges
FRANGIPANE
3½ oz blanched hazelnuts
3½ oz blanched almonds
1 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1¼ cups superfine sugar
3 large eggs
heaping 1⁄3 cup all-purpose flour
TOPPING
3½ oz quality dark chocolate (70%)
3½ oz blanched hazelnuts
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 11-inch loose-bottomed tart pan. To make the pastry, place the cold butter, the flour, sugar, a pinch of sea salt, the egg, and cocoa in a food processor, then blitz until it comes together into a ball of dough, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out on a clean flour-dusted surface until just under ¼ inch thick, then loosely roll up around the rolling pin and unroll over the tart pan, easing it in and pushing it carefully into the sides. Trim off any excess, prick the base with a fork, cover, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. When the time’s up, line the pastry case with quality plastic wrap (non-PVC), then fill with rice, making sure you pack it right out to the sides. Bake blind for 15 minutes, remove the plastic wrap and rice, and bake for another 7 minutes, or until crisp, then leave to cool.
Meanwhile, to make the sauce, place the cranberries in a small pan on a medium-low heat. Squeeze in all the orange juice to cover the cranberries, topping up with a little boiling kettle water, if needed. Cook for 15 minutes, or until thick and jammy, stirring occasionally and adding extra splashes of boiling water, if needed. I like the sauce chunky, but you can absolutely blitz up half of it and stir it back through the rest to make it more jammy, if you prefer. Remove and leave to cool. For the frangipane, blitz the hazelnuts and almonds in a food processor until fine, then add the butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, and pulse until combined.
Once the pastry case is cool, spread the cranberry sauce across the base, then place the tart pan on a baking sheet. Spoon the frangipane over the sauce, spreading it out evenly. Snap up the chocolate and randomly poke it into the top of the frangipane so it’s almost submerged. Roughly crush the hazelnuts and sprinkle most of them over the top, poking them in, too. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until golden, set, and cooked through. Serve scattered with the remaining crushed hazelnuts. Delicious with crème fraîche, honey, and some fresh figs or clementine slices.
MONTE BIANCO
SILKY CHESTNUT, VANILLA CREAM, CHOCOLATE, ALMOND BISCOTTI, & CLEMENTINES
This is a super-delicious, quite fantastically unusual dessert. The balance of the silky chestnut flavor with the cream, the chocolate, and the crunch of the biscuits works together absolutely beautifully, and it’s fun to put together, too.
SERVES 10
1 HOUR 30 MINUTES
PLUS CHILLING
3 cups reduced-fat (2%) milk
5 clementines
1 small sprig of fresh rosemary
¼ cup liquid honey
2 vanilla beans
12⁄3 cups heavy cream
1¼ lbs vac-packed chestnuts
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
2 oz almond biscotti
3½ oz quality dark chocolate (70%)
Pour the milk into a large pan on a low heat. Use a vegetable peeler to add strips of zest from 1 clementine, then add the rosemary sprig and the honey. Halve the vanilla beans lengthways, scrape out the seeds, place in a bowl with the cream, and pop into the fridge, adding the empty beans to the milk pan. Bring to a gentle simmer, then add the chestnuts and simmer for 1 hour.
When the time’s up, use a slotted spoon to scoop just the chestnuts into a food processor, and pulse a few times. Strain the milk, discarding the peel, vanilla beans and rosemary, then gradually pulse enough milk into the processor to give you a silky smooth paste, stopping to scrape down the sides and help it along. Spoon into a large piping or sandwich bag and pop into the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile, sift the confectioner’s sugar into the bowl of cream, then whisk to soft peaks. Spoon into another piping or sandwich bag and pop that into the fridge, too. Bash the biscuits to a fine dust. Peel the remaining clementines and slice into rounds.
To serve—and this is the fun bit—use a small sharp knife to stab little holes and slits into one corner of each piping or sandwich bag, then squeeze the cream into your serving dishes like wiggly worms. Shave over some chocolate, add a couple of slices of clementine, then sprinkle over the biscuit dust and tuck in!
* * *
GET AHEAD
You can make all the elements of this delightful pud ahead of time, then simply assemble it at the last minute, or even at the table for a bit of theater—there’s nothing else quite like it.
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GRANITA
APPLE, MINT, CELERY, & ELDERFLOWER
A fresh, zingy, refreshing pud is sometimes just the ticket to finish off a rich meal. You might think celery is an odd choice for a dessert, but, trust me, paired with sweet apples and elderflower, and creamy crème fraîche, it really works.
SERVES 10
15 MINUTES
PLUS CHILLING & MACERATING
8 Granny Smith apples
4 sprigs of fresh mint
1⁄3 cup St-Germain elderflower liqueur
2 tablespoons maple syrup
4 stalks of celery
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
10 heaping teaspoons crème fraîche
Peel and core the apples and chuck into a blender. Pick in the mint leaves, squeeze in the juice of 2 lemons, add the elderflower liqueur and maple syrup, along with a splash of water, and blitz until super-smooth—you can do this in batches, if necessary. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve into a freezable container, really pushing everything through with the back of a spoon, then freeze until needed.
About half an hour before you’re ready to serve, pop your serving glasses or bowls into the freezer to chill. Trim and finely slice the celery stalks at an angle, with patient knife skills or, ideally, on a mandolin (use the guard!). Place in a bowl, squeeze over the remaining lemon juice, stir in the sugar, mix and massage together, then leave to macerate for 30 minutes.
Get your granita out of the freezer and scratch it all up with a fork into ice crystals. Divide the granita between your chilled glasses or bowls, dollop with crème fraîche, and serve with the macerated celery for a bit of crunch and contrast.
* * *
MIX IT UP
Use half elderflower gin and half elderflower cordial instead of St-Germain liqueur, if you prefer, or you can opt for straight-up cordial, if you want to go booze-free.
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APPLE CARPACCIO
POMEGRANATE, MINT, GREEK YOGURT, & CANDIED PINE NUTS
It’s nice to have a lighter dessert in the mix, and this simple principle of carpaccio can embrace many other fruits, too, such as pears, pineapple, or even mango. On top of that, it’s truly beautiful to look at, and to eat, of course!
SERVES 4
20 MINUTES
1¾ oz pine nuts
1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
4 heaping tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 pomegranate
3 clementines
3 large crunchy eating apples
2 sprigs of fresh mint
liquid honey
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rinse the pine nuts in cold water, then drain well and spread them out in a single layer on a small baking sheet. Sift over the confectioner’s sugar and bake for 6 minutes, or until the nuts turn golden, then leave to cool. Crush 1 spoonful’s worth in a pestle and mortar, then muddle in the yogurt.
Meanwhile, cut the pomegranate in half. Hold one half over a bowl, cut-side down in your fingers. Gently smack it with a wooden spoon so that the seeds tumble out into the bowl. Squeeze the other half through a sieve into a pan, squeeze in the clementine juice, and gently mix together. Slice the apples as thinly as you can (ideally on a mandolin—use the guard!). Place two-thirds of them in the pan of juice, then slice the rest the other way into matchsticks. Add those to the pan, too, toss together, and leave it all to soften a little.
It’s nice to do a big platter of this—it looks quite grand and very pretty—or you can do individual portions. Arrange the apple slices, then divide up the apple matchsticks and pile in the center. Dollop over the yogurt, then scatter with the pomegranate seeds and the remaining sugared pine nuts, and pick over the baby mint leaves. Drizzle with a little honey and some extra juice from the pan, if you like, and serve right away.
CHRISTMAS SUNDAES
LAYERS OF CHEEKY FESTIVE PUDDING JOY
If you’ve got some leftover Christmas pudding, let me inspire you to create a fabulous, extravagant Christmas sundae in a glass, made up from all the things you’re bound to have in your pantry at this wonderful time of year.
10 MINUTES
This is more of a principle than a recipe—you can make individual portions in cute little glasses, or you could even make a bigger version for everyone to share, kinda like a cheat’s trifle. It really depends on how much Christmas pudding you’ve got left over, and what other lovely bits and bobs you can add to the story. Layer up your ingredients in whichever order you like and, of course, you don’t have to use everything I’ve listed here, nor should you feel limited by it—if you’ve got your own seasonal favorites to throw into the mix, go for it! The more the merrier. A really great combo might include:
The only essential, crumbled Christmas pudding (see here), cold or warmed through, and I like to drizzle each piece with a few drips of Vin Santo or sweet sherry
Delicate slices or peeled segments of clementine, satsuma, or blood orange
Bombs of leftover Cranberry sauce (see here), cold or reheated
Toasted, crushed nuts, such as pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, or whatever you’ve got in your nut basket—as long as they’re not salted, of course
Spoonfuls of custard, Greek or plain yogurt, a drizzle of cream, some whipped Chantilly, or the odd spoonful of quality vanilla or chocolate ice cream
A little crumbling of Badass brownies (see here) adds an extra dimension
Fine slices of stem or crystallized ginger add a lovely bit of warmth
Shavings of quality dark chocolate (70%) always finish it off nicely or, even better, use melted chocolate, which you can ripple through all the layers above
And there you have it, the perfect little Christmas sundae.
Afternoon tea &
SWEET TREATS
CHOCOLATE LOG
SWEET CHESTNUT PURÉE, HONEYED CREAM, & CRUSHED HONEYCOMB FILLING
This Yule log brings back loads of happy memories for me—it was one of the first desserts I ever made as a kid, at Christmastime, of course! This is my slightly more grown-up version, which is really good fun to make and decorate.
SERVES 12–14
1 HOUR
PLUS COOLING
SPONGE
4 large eggs
½ cup confectioner’s sugar, plus extra for dusting
½ cup self-rising flour
2 tablespoons quality unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
FILLING
8 oz sweetened chestnut purée
1 pinch of ground cinnamon
¾ cup + 5 teaspoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon liquid honey
1 Crunchie bar or 1½ oz Honeycomb (see here)
BUTTERCREAM
5 oz quality dark chocolate (70%)
11 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 heaping cup confectioner’s sugar
Preheat the oven to 350°F. For the sponge, line a 12- × 10-inch baking sheet with parchment paper. Separate the eggs. In an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks with a pinch of sea salt. Gradually whisk in the confectioner’s sugar, then, one-by-one, whisk in the egg yolks until really pale and light. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder, add the vanilla bean paste, then fold everything together with a large metal spoon so you keep in as much air as possible. Spoon the mixture onto the lined baking sheet, gently and evenly spread it out, then bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until just cooked through and springy to the touch.
Place a large sheet of parchment paper (18 × 14 inches) on a flat surface and evenly sprinkle over the superfine sugar from a height. While it’s still hot and flexible, turn the sponge out onto the paper. Peel off and discard the baked piece of parchment paper. With one of the longest sides in front of you, fold up the excess paper, then roll up the sponge with the paper inside (as it cools, this will set the shape but prevent the sponge from cracking). Leave to cool.
For the filling, mix the chestnut purée and cinnamon together. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream to soft peaks, then fold in the honey. To assemble, unroll the sponge so it’s flat, removing the paper. Spread all over with the chestnut purée, followed by the cream, then smash and sprinkle over the Crunchie bar or Honeycomb. Reroll and pop into the fridge. Meanwhile, make your buttercream. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, then remove and leave to cool. Beat the butter in an electric mix
er until pale, then, with the mixer still running, gradually add the confectioner’s sugar and cooled melted chocolate.
Take the log out of the fridge, chop off a quarter at an angle—that’s the branch—and position it on your serving board like in the picture, using a splodge of buttercream to keep it in place. Evenly cover the whole log with buttercream, then use a fork to decorate it. Dust with extra confectioner’s sugar and a pinch of sea salt, shaved chocolate, sprinkles, plastic Bambi figures, whatever you like—go to town!
MY VICTORIA SPONGE
ORANGE BLOSSOM CHANTILLY CREAM, STRAWBERRY JAM, & SPRINKLES
Embracing orange blossom in the vanilla Chantilly cream and spiking our strawberry jam with just a little touch of fragrant rosewater creates a wonderful tutti-frutti-flavored evolution of the classic Victoria sponge—you’ll love it!
SERVES 12
50 MINUTES
PLUS COOLING
SPONGE
1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature), plus extra for greasing
1 cup + 1½ tablespoons superfine sugar
4 large eggs
1 orange
1½ cups self-rising flour
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
FILLING & TOPPING
1 vanilla bean
1¼ cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
orange blossom water
rosewater
¼ cup quality strawberry jam
5 oz naturally colored hundreds and thousands (nonpareils)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans and line the bases with parchment paper circles. For the sponge, by hand or with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until super-light and fluffy. One-by-one, beat in the eggs, then finely grate in the orange zest and fold in the flour and baking powder. Divide between the prepared pans and spread out evenly. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden, risen, and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool a little in the pans, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.