A little while ago I made lemon posset for a dinner party dessert. You can read about that here. I served it in a variety of small, dainty cups and glasses.
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Then a couple of months ago I acquired some more small Pyrex glass cups at a village brocante which would also be perfect for the dessert. You can read about that here. My thinking was white china cups for the ladies, plainer glass ones for the gentlemen, corny and old fashioned I know but I didn't have a full set of either so a mix and match would be fun. They are both roughly the same capacity.
The next time I had it in mind to make lemon posset I was looking for the recipe and came across one for lemon syllabub instead. I wondered what the difference was.
Essentially, for lemon posset you cook the cream and mix in lemon juice. For lemon syllabub the cream is not cooked but you make a lemon syrup and also include some sweet white wine which appealed to me! (Other recipes I have seen online suggest just using ordinary white wine.)
Mary Berry's recipe for it is in her book "Classic Mary Berry" and also on the BBC website as a video which you can see here. Interestingly in the book the recipe suggests leaving the syrup to infuse for at least an hour or even overnight whereas in the video you combine the two as soon as the syrup has cooled.
To whisk it up I used what I call my "spider whisk" because it reminds me of the ginormous spiders we get here in France. You push the handle down and the spider bit twizzles round at huge speed, making it very effective as a hand whisk. I was pleased to find that even French double cream whipped up quickly using it.
Ingredients
1 lemon (well scrubbed if not unwaxed) rind and juice
100ml sweet white wine
75g caster sugar
300ml double cream
Method
First, make the syrup by peeling strips of rind from the lemon as thinly as possible using a vegetable peeler or small sharp knife. Put the rind into a small saucepan with the lemon juice, sugar and wine. Bring to the boil gently and once the sugar has dissolved simmer for a few moments. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Strain the cooled syrup into a bowl but reserve the peel.
Add the cream to the bowl and whisk until it just holds its shape, ie until thicker but still floppy, not stiff.
Divide the syllabub evenly between six cups, glasses or ramekins, dropping a dessertspoonful at a time into each one.
Cut the lemon peel into thin strips and use to decorate the syllabub. Chill in the fridge for a minimum of two hours. The dessert is ideal for making the morning or day before you need it.
You could also decorate it with a sprig of mint, a few raspberries, sliced strawberries or edible flowers such as violas.
Serves 6.
