Name: Vicky Pollard sundae
Prep time: 80 min
Cook time: 70 min
Total time: 150 min
Yield: 6 - 8
Ingredients: To serve: strawberry ice-cream and mint; Vanilla sponge; 2 eggs; 175 gm caster sugar; 60 gm unsalted butter; 120 ml milk; Seeds from ½ vanilla bean; 125 gm plain flour; 1 tsp baking powder; Pimm’s jelly; 75 ml Pimm’s; 180 ml (¾ cup) dry ginger ale; 2½ titanium-strength gelatine leaves, softened in cold water for 5 minutes; Sherbet; ¼ tsp each citric acid and tartaric acid; ¼ tsp bicarbonate soda; 60 gm pure icing sugar; 25 gm (1¼ tbsp) lemon jelly crystals

“This sundae makes me happy. I’d like to share it with friends and family. May I have the recipe?”

Jamila Slitti, Hobart, Tas

“Throw away your preconceptions of Victoria sponge,” says Sweet Envy’s Alistair Wise. “This is the sundae that is begging to get up in your face and keep it real. Scoop the ice-cream, rip up sponge, spoon on some jelly and sprinkle it with sherbet.” Wise makes his own strawberry ice-cream, but we’ve used store-bought.

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Ingredients

To serve: strawberry ice-cream and mint

Vanilla sponge

2 eggs

175 gm caster sugar

60 gm unsalted butter

120 ml milk

Seeds from ½ vanilla bean

125 gm plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pimm’s jelly

75 ml Pimm’s

180 ml (¾ cup) dry ginger ale

2½ titanium-strength gelatine leaves, softened in cold water for 5 minutes

Sherbet

¼ tsp each citric acid and tartaric acid

¼ tsp bicarbonate soda

60 gm pure icing sugar

25 gm (1¼ tbsp) lemon jelly crystals

Method

Main

1.For vanilla sponge, preheat oven to 170C and butter and line a 20cm-diameter round cake tin. Whisk eggs and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water until mixture reaches 50C or it feels hot (1-2 minutes), then transfer to an electric mixer and whisk until ribbon stage (when beaters are lifted, batter falls from beaters like a ribbon; 3-4 minutes). Heat butter, milk and vanilla seeds to about 75C (2-3 minutes). Fold flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into egg mixture, then add a third of the batter to milk and butter mixture and beat. Add this mixture back to batter and fold to combine. Pour into tin and bake until a skewer withdraws clean (25-35 minutes). Cool in tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

2.For Pimm’s jelly, combine Pimm’s and ginger ale in a bowl, transfer 60ml to a small saucepan and bring just to a simmer over medium heat. Squeeze excess water from gelatine, add to pan and stir to dissolve. Pour mixture into remaining Pimm’s mixture, then transfer to a 500ml container and refrigerate until set (2-3 hours).

3.For the sherbet, whizz ingredients in a dry blender to combine, or pass through a dry fine sieve a few times.

4.To serve, place scoops of ice-cream in coupes, top with ripped-up sponge and jelly, sprinkle with sherbet and scatter with mint.

Alistair Wise

Styling by Aimee Jones

Styling by Nick Banbury