Fancy floating fruit jelly - summer special!

So sorry for the long gap - June was just a bit busy for us both! But we're back with this super summer recipe for delicious Jelly. We've chosen elderflower and raspberry but your options are as limited as the flavours of cordial available at your local supermarket but elderflower looks cool as it is clear! This is so easy to make but looks super impressive when you turn up at you friends house!

Equipment:
Jelly Mould - now this depends what kind of jelly connoisseur you are but this mold came from the 99p shop! It works great as you can serve ice cream in the centre!
Sieve
Large jug
Bain-marie (A bowl on top of a saucepan)

Ingredients:
Quantities depend upon how large your mold is, also having done some jelly research do not necessarily follow the packet instructions on the gelatine. Jelly afficianados Bompas and Parr say that you should use more that the packet to ensure your jelly comes out of the mold easily and in one piece.
So...you will need the following for a litre (1000ml) of jelly and you can adjust accordingly depending on how big your mold is:
300ml Elderflower Cordial
700ml Water
10 leaves of platinum grade gelatine (Should be available in your local baking section.)
1 punnet Raspberries

Firstly measure the volume of your mold, fill it with water and then tip the water into a measuring jug to get the volume. Then depending on what measurement you have work out the proportion of ingredients you need. 

In your jug mix together your cordial and water. Then in your bowl place your gelatine leaves and put just enough cordial mixture on top to cover the leaves. Let this stand for 10 minutes to soften the gelatine. Meanwhile put a pan of water on to boil, once boiling bring down to a gentle simmer.

Once your gelatine has softened place your bowl on top of the pan (this is the bain-marie) Make sure that the bowl is not touching the water in the pan as this will be too hot. Let the gelatine completely dissolve, then add the rest of your cordial mixture stir and then pass through a sieve back into your jug.

Rinse your raspberries or any other soft fruit you have chosen (strawberries work well too) Be gentle and discard any very squashy ones as they will colour your jelly pink. Fill your mold half full with some of your cordial mixture, then float several raspberries in your jelly and place in the fridge to set, this will take about 1-2 hours then remove from the fridge, pour on the remaining mixture and float more raspberries and return to the fridge - if possible allow to set over night. You can choose to make as many layers in your jelly as you like - we did ours in two but there is no reason that you couldn't do more if you have the time. If you find that the cordial in the jug has begun to set place the jug in a pan of hot water for a few minutes until it has dissolved.

To un-mold your jelly successfully can take a bit of skill and patience, make sure you have a plate that is big enough for your jelly ready to use. Fill a sink or a big bowl with warm water and put your un-molded jelly in the water for a minute, ensure that the water level does not come above the top of the mold. Then place your upturned plate onto the mold and turn over in one swift motion. If the jelly does not come out immediately be patient and let gravity do the work. Et Voila! A delicious jelly ready to be served with lashings of ice-cream!

Inspiration and jelly research was taken from Bompas and Parr's fabulous book of jelly recipes, we have however made this jelly before reading this book but there are only a few ways to make jelly! Great tips and inspiration for the budding jelly maker. Available from Amazon.