Sparkling jelly with wild strawberries, blueberries and peach

Serves: 8
Course: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 750 ml/25 fl oz bottle of dry non-vintage Champagne or another dry sparkling wine
  • 170 g/6 oz (3⁄4 cups plus 2 tablespoons) caster (superfine) sugar
  • 6 gelatine leaves
  • 2–3 squares edible gold leaf (optional)
  • 110 g/4 oz blueberries
  • 1 ripe yellow peach
  • 75 g/3 oz wild strawberries (or normal strawberries, halved or quartered)

1 Place a 1.2 litre/2 pint (5 cup) glass serving bowl in the refrigerator to chill.

2 Pour the champagne into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar. The champagne will foam when the sugar is added so choose a bowl large enough to accommodate the bubbles. Allow to sit for a few minutes, stirring from time to time, so the sugar dissolves.

3 Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for five minutes.

4 Meanwhile, heat about 100ml (1⁄2 cup) of the champagne mixture in a small pan until it is hot but nowhere near boiling. Remove the gelatine leaves from the water, shaking off the excess, add to the hot liquid and stir to dissolve. Pour some of the champagne mixture into the dissolved gelatine, give it a mix and pour everything back into the remaining champagne. Stir to combine. If using gold leaf, stir it into the champagne mixture now. As you mix, the gold will break into flakes that will suspend throughout the mixture.

5 Now it is time to start layering the jelly in stages. Keep the champagne mixture at room temperature, as it will not set until it is refrigerated: ladle about one sixth of the jelly mixture into the glass bowl in the refrigerator and add half the blueberries to it. Allow to set, about two hours.

6 Peel the peach and cut the flesh into neat 1cm/1⁄2 inch cubes. Ladle the same amount of the jelly mixture as before over the now set layer and add half the diced peach. Allow to set.

7 Repeat this layering process with blueberries and diced peach once more. Now set a layer of wild strawberries into the next layer of jelly, if using. Once set pour any remaining liquid jelly over the top and chill until the entire jelly sets with a trembling wobble.