Recipe of the Month

Earl Grey and Clementine Easter Hot Cross Bun Trifle

One of my favorite Easter treats, Michelin chef Heston Blumethal’s Earl Grey and clementine hot cross buns, delicious toasted and topped with lashings of butter. Bursting with the same flavour combo of tangy clementines and smoky bergamot from the tea, and with sweet Madeira to add a touch of class, my ultimate Easter trifle is both delicious and sophisticated and is the perfect way to end your holiday feast.

For the trifle

A glass footed trifle bowl is best showing off all of the yummy layers of buns, fruit, custard, curd and cream.

Ingredients

100ml boiling water 3 Earl Grey teabags 100ml of sweet Madeira wine 5 hot cross buns gently toasted and torn roughly into one inch cubes 50g blanched, roasted and roughly chopped 600ml double cream 500ml ready-made custard

For the candied clementines

200gms caster sugar 2 clementines ( make sure the skins are tight and the fruit fresh) halved and cut into thin rounds.

For the clementine and lemon curd

130gms unsalted butter cut into cubes Grated zest and juice of three clementines Grated zest and juice of two small lemons 120gms caster sugar 1 medium free range egg, plus two yolks.

Method

1 Infuse the tea bags in the boiling water and add the

Madeira. Leave to infuse for one hour. Make the candied oranges. This is easier to do than you might think and the result is an intense syrupy flavoured clementine for the trifle and the topping. Pour 300ml water into a pan with the caster sugar and bring to the boil. Add the clementine slices, then turn down to a medium heat and simmer for 50 minutes until softened and syrupy. Leave to cool. 2 Make the fruit curd. Heat 30g of the butter until bubbling, golden and smelling nutty. Remove from the heat, quickly adding the rest of the butter with the clementine and lemon juice and sugar. Whisk until smooth.

Add the egg and the yolks and beat well. Return the pan to low heat and whisk continuously for ten minutes until you have a thick, creamy curd. Stir in the zests and leave to cool. 3 Layering the trifle…..this is the fun part! Remove the tea bags from the Madeira and water and discard. Add the syrup from the candied clementines, leaving a little remaining with the fruit. Put the buns in the base of the trifle dish spooning over all the infused liquid. Arrange over top most of the clementine slices. Meanwhile using either electric mixer or balloon whisk, whip the cream to soft holding peaks. Layer the curd over the buns and clementines and then top with the custard and finally the cream. Sprinkle the top with the toasted hazlenuts and the remaining clementine slices with the syrup.

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