Berry millefeuille

We’ve swapped the classic crème pâtissière filling in this millefeuille for sweetened vanilla cream, so it’s quick to prepare. You can make the berry compote and bake the pastry up to 12hr ahead. Assemble up to 1hr ahead and chill until serving.

SERVES 4

PREPARATION TIME 15 minutes, plus cooling COOKING TIME about 25 minutes

250g mixed frozen berries

40g caster sugar

320g sheet ready-rolled puff pastry, we used Jus-rol FOR THE VANILLA CREAM

450ml double cream

3tbsp icing sugar, plus extra to dust

1tbsp vanilla bean paste

1 Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan) mark 7. Put the berries and sugar into a medium pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until the berries have begun to break down and the juices reduce, about 5min. Scrape into a bowl and set aside to cool.

2 Meanwhile, remove pastry from fridge and allow to soften at room temperature for 10min. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Unroll pastry and cut into 4 even rectangles. Transfer to the baking tray, spacing apart. Place a piece of baking parchment over the pastry and put a second baking sheet on top to weigh it down. Bake for 20min, removing the top baking sheet and parchment for the final 3min. Cool on a wire rack.

3 Make the vanilla cream. Put the cream, icing sugar and vanilla into a bowl and, using a handheld electric whisk, beat to almost-firm peaks.

4 To assemble, put 3 pastry rectangles side by side on a board. Spoon 1/3 of the berry mixture on to each of the rectangles. Spoon or pipe the cream over the berry mixture. Transfer one layer to a plate, then stack the others on top. Top with the remaining pastry and dust with icing sugar. Serve.