Earl grey and lemon stollen dessert

Recipe

For the pistachio marzipan, blitz the pistachios to a fine powder in a food processor, being careful not to over blitz which may result in a split paste. Add the almond essence and icing sugar and blitz on high speed until well-combined. Add the egg white and mix until a paste is formed. If the mixture is too wet, add a little more icing sugar. Sprinkle some icing sugar on a clean counter top and knead the paste until it is smooth and resembling marzipan. Cover and place in the fridge for 2 hours.

To make the Stollen, combine all the dried fruit in a bowl along with the lemon and lime zest and juice. Place two of the Earl grey teabags in 125g hot water and steep for 3 minutes. Squeeze the teabags and discard. Add the tea to the dried fruit along with the Brandy. Cover and set aside for at least 2 hours at room temperature. Place the milk in a pan and bring to the boil. Add the remaining two Earl grey teabags and remove from the heat. Steep for 3 minutes. Squeeze the teabags and discard. Once the milk has cooled slightly, pour into a bowl and add the yeast and sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes. In the meantime, open the cardamom pods and remove the seeds. Grind the seeds using a pestle and mortar to a fine powder. Add the ground cardamom to a bowl. Add the flour and mixed spice. Combine to mix well. Add the yeast and milk mixture, vegetable spread, egg and vanilla extract and place into the bowl of a mixer. Fitted with a dough hook, mix for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding a little more flour if the dough is too wet. Cover the bowl with oiled cling film and keep in a warm place to prove for 1 hour.

Remove the marzipan from the fridge and roll between two sheets of parchment paper until a large rectangle is formed approximately 40 x 60cm, and 5mm thick. Discard half of the liquid from the dried fruit and add the fruit and remaining liquid to the dough in the mixing bowl. Add the chopped almonds. Mix until well combined using the dough hook attachment. The dough should be a little bit sticky, but more flour can be added if it is too wet. Divide the dough mixture and the marzipan into two portions. Turn each piece of dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 minute. Roll out on a floured surface into rectangle shapes, approximately 20 x 30cm, and 2 cm thick. Place the marzipan on top of the dough, leaving at least 2 cm of dough exposed on all the sides. Take the dough on the longer side of the rectangle and roll over the marzipan. Continue rolling to make spiral. Brush the ends with milk to seal. Repeat with the second portions of dough and marzipan.

Shape each piece into oval logs and place on a non-stick loaf pan (21.5 x 11 x 7cm) coated with butter and flour.

Preheat the oven to 40C/104F. Bring a small pan of water to the boil and place inside the oven. Place the tray in the oven to prove for 30 minutes.

While the dough is proving, preheat the FORCE to 180C/356F and place a pizza stone on the right-hand side. Turn the gas on the left-hand side on and leave the right side off. Remove the pan of proved dough from the oven and transfer to the hot grill to bake for 90 minutes, managing the temperature between 175C/347F and 200C/392F. Once done, carefully remove from the grill and dust with icing sugar. Allow to cool in the pan.

To make the tea jelly, start by making a tea infusion. Add the tea leaves to 600g water and place in the fridge for 1 hour to infuse. Pass the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, discarding the leaves. Set aside.

In the meantime, make the acid tea sugar by combining the sugar with the citric acid in a small bowl. Grind the tea leaves using a pestle and mortar to a fine powder and add to the sugar. Set aside.

To finish the tea jelly, line a 20 × 30cm baking tray with parchment paper. Place the infused tea into a pan along with the glucose. Mix the sugar and pectin in a small bowl until thoroughly combined and add it to the pan. Place the pan over medium heat and bring to 108C/226F, or 69°Brix, if using a refractometer. Stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved and the glucose has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Pour the mixture onto the lined baking tray and allow to set at room temperature for 4 hours. Cut the jelly into cubes (0.75 x 0.75cm) and place into the bowl of acid tea sugar. Roll the cubes around until well coated on all sides. Set aside.

To make the caramel, place a pan on the stove over high heat. Pour the sugar in the pan and melt. When it reaches a dark caramel, whisk in the butter vigorously to emulsify, then remove from the heat. Add the salt, and carefully whisk in the apple juice. Return the pan to the heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. After the caramel has come to a boil, remove from the heat.

To make the ice cream, add the tea leaves to the milk. Cover and place in the fridge overnight to infuse. Strain with a fine mesh sieve, discarding the leaves. Combine the skimmed milk powder, dextrose and caster sugar in a bowl. Set aside. In a pan, combine 800g of the infused whole milk (discard the rest of the milk that may have left over from the infusion) and the whipping cream and bring it to 45C/113F, over moderate heat. Once it reaches temperature, add the reserved milk powder/sugar mixture and combine well, heating the mixture to 85C/185F. Remove the pan from the heat and cool it over a bowl of iced water. Once cooled completely, churn in the ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions. Store in the freezer until needed.

To build the dessert, slice the Stollen into 1.5cm thick pieces and cut each slice into 8 pieces. Place 4-5 pieces of Stollen at the bottom of a bowl and drizzle the apple caramel on top. Place 4-5 tea jellies around the bowl and finish with a scoop of Earl Grey ice cream.