Champagne Jellies with Syllabub Cream and Frosted Grapes

If you really want to splash out you can make this with champagne, but sparkling white wine works very well, too.

This is a lovely light dessert that slips down easily after a rich main course. It looks beautiful served in stemmed champagne flutes: the quantities below will fill 12 stemmed glasses of 5 fl oz (150 ml) capacity, so if you only want six you can easily halve the recipe (but then you'll have to drink the rest of the champagne)!

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This recipe is taken from Delia Smith’s Christmas

Method

To make the jelly, pour 1½ pints (900 ml) water into a saucepan. Next, scrub the lemons well, then pare off the coloured part only of the zest, using a peeler, add this to the pan together with the sugar and bring up to simmering point. After that, take the pan off the heat and sprinkle in the gelatine, whisking the mixture with a balloon whisk at the same time.

Now leave this on one side to melt the gelatine, stirring once or twice to ensure that it has all dissolved into the liquid. Next, add the juice of the lemons, then strain the contents of the pan either through a coffee filter or a fine sieve lined with muslin or gauze. Leave to cool, cover and chill in the fridge until the jelly is just on the point of setting – this should take about 1-1½ hours.

After that, uncork the wine, measure out 1 pint (570 ml) and pour it into the jelly. Stir once or twice to blend everything, then ladle the jelly gently into the serving glasses (being gentle means trying to conserve as many bubbles as you can so that they will be apparent when the jelly is eaten). Chill the jellies, covered with clingfilm, for 4 hours – by which time they should have a deliciously soft set, not rubbery but firm enough to support the syllabub.

While the jelly is setting, make the frosted grapes for the decoration. What you need to do for the prettiest effect is to try to separate the grapes into bunches of two or three (depending on their size), leaving them still attached to the stalk. Then wash and dry them thoroughly and dip them first into egg white and then into the sugar, making sure each one gets an even coating of sugar. Spread them on silicone paper to dry for a couple of hours before using to decorate.

Make the syllabub topping by combining 2 tablespoons wine, the brandy, lemon juice and sugar together in a bowl. Leave this on one side, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Then pour in the cream and whisk until it stands in soft peaks; cover and chill until you are ready to serve. Just before serving, top each jelly with blobs of the softly whipped cream and decorate with frosted grapes.

Note: this recipe contains raw eggs.