Home › The Principles of Cookery › Jelly, with Whipped Cream
Jelly, with Whipped Cream
Make a pint and a half of clear wine jelly (see MADEIRA WINE JELLY), and pour it into a well-wetted mould, open in the centre, so as to form a border. Set it in the refrigerator or on ice to become firm. When wanted for the table, whip half a pint of cream, stir in six ounces of glace fruits cut into dice, and a table-spoonful of brandy; turn out the jelly carefully, fill the centre with the cream, etc., making it into a cone shape, and serve.
A moulded wine jelly ring filled with brandied whipped cream and candied fruit — an assembly job whose success rests entirely on the jelly being set firm enough to stand unsupported.
- Imperial measuresThe pint here is 20 fl oz, so a pint and a half is 30 fl oz, about 3½ US cups. The half pint of cream is 10 fl oz, or about 1¼ US cups, which roughly doubles in volume when whipped.
- The hinge: a firm jellyA border jelly has to hold its shape once turned out and then take the weight of the cream, so set it firm rather than barely set, and give it a long chill, overnight rather than the two or three hours a bowl of jelly would need.
- "Open in the centre"This is a ring mould; a savarin or angel-food tin of roughly 3½ to 4 cups' capacity suits the quantity. Well-wetted means rinsed with cold water and drained, not dried, so the jelly releases cleanly.
- Turning outDip the mould in warm (not hot) water for 5 to 10 seconds, wipe it, then invert onto a chilled serving plate. If it resists, lay a warm cloth over the metal for a moment rather than dipping again, which starts melting the surface.
- Glacé fruitsCandied cherries, pineapple, apricot and citron peel, sold as glacé or crystallised fruit. Six ounces is generous for 10 fl oz of cream; rinse off surface syrup and dry the dice, or the cream will weep.
- Whipping and foldingWhip to firm peaks before the fruit and brandy go in — the alcohol slackens cream, and folding in heavy fruit knocks air out. Assemble no more than an hour before serving and keep it cold.
- Ice versus refrigeratorThe alternative of setting it "on ice" reflects a period when a domestic refrigerator was an insulated ice chest. Any modern fridge at 4C/40F does the job better.
- YieldWould serve about six to eight as a dessert course.
Moulded jellies were the showpieces of the Victorian and Edwardian sweet course, and a clear wine jelly \— Madeira, sherry or hock, set with isinglass or, in later recipes, gelatine and cleared with egg white — was, it is often said, especially prized, clarity being taken as a proof of the cook's skill. Building it as a border with a filled centre is generally regarded as characteristic of the period: the same logic gives us the ring of rice or potato around a ragout on the savoury side of the menu. The cream-and-candied-fruit filling is of the kind sometimes labelled macédoine or à la Chantilly in the professional kitchens of the day, and the whole assembly depended on reliable ice.