Rhubarb and Jelly Custard with Ginger Honeycomb

Choose the pinkest rhubarb you can find to give the jelly its beautiful colour. If your rhubarb is green, you can mix a little red or pink food colouring into the syrup. If you don’t fancy making the honeycomb, some crumbled ginger biscuits would also add lovely crunch.

Hands-on time 30min, plus cooling and chilling. Cooking time about

35min. Serves 8 FOR THE JELLY  1kg forced rhubarb, trimmed  250g caster sugar  8 sheets platinum-grade leaf gelatine, we used Dr. Oetker FOR THE CUSTARD  1 vanilla pod  200ml whole milk  400ml double cream  6 large egg yolks  75g caster sugar  1tbsp cornflour FOR THE HONEYCOMB  Oil, to grease

 ½tsp ground ginger

 1tsp bicarbonate of soda  125g caster sugar

 3tbsp golden syrup, see GH Tip YOU WILL ALSO NEED  A large piece of muslin, available from Ocado, Lakeland or Amazon, or clean J-cloth

1 For the jelly, cut the rhubarb into 2.5cm pieces and put into a medium pan with the sugar and 350ml water. Heat gently, stirring until sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10min, until rhubarb is tender. Meanwhile soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5min.

2 Line a colander or sieve with a large piece of muslin or a clean J-cloth and set over a large heatproof jug. Strain in the hot rhubarb mixture, pressing down on the pulp. You should have about 1 litre of syrup (you can save any extra syrup to drizzle over yogurt or use in cocktails). Discard pulp.

3 Lift gelatine out of water, squeeze out excess water, and stir into hot rhubarb mixture to dissolve. Pour into 8 x 200ml serving glasses. Cool completely, then chill for at least 4hr, until set.

4 Meanwhile, make the custard. Halve the vanilla pod lengthways

and scrape out the seeds. Add seeds and pod to a medium pan with the milk and double cream and heat over medium heat until just simmering. Remove from heat and leave to infuse for 10min. Discard pod.

5 In a bowl, whisk yolks, sugar and cornflour. Whisk in the warm cream mixture, then return mixture to the pan and cook, whisking, until thickened (it needs to just come to the boil, but don’t over-boil or it will scramble). Strain through a sieve into a bowl, lay clingfilm or baking parchment directly on the surface; cool.

6 Spoon custard over the set jelly and chill for at least 2hr to thicken.

7 To make the honeycomb, grease a small loaf tin or baking tray. Mix ginger and bicarbonate of soda in a small bowl. Heat sugar and golden syrup in a medium pan over low heat, swirling the pan every now and then, until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bubble until a rich amber colour (or 148°C on a sugar thermometer). Remove from heat and quickly whisk in the ginger mixture to combine – be careful, as it will froth up! Don’t over-whisk or the air bubbles will be too small. Pour into/on to the greased tin/tray. Leave to cool and harden.

8 To serve, break the honeycomb into small pieces and sprinkle over the custard. Serve immediately. PER SERVING 581cals, 7g protein, 32g fat

(19g saturates), 65g carbs (63g total sugars), <1g fibre GET AHEAD Make jelly up to 3 days ahead; once set, cover and chill. Add custard up to a day ahead. Make honeycomb up to 3 days ahead; once cool, wrap and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Complete recipe to serve.