Lemon panna cotta with blackberries & honey madeleines
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Lemon panna cotta with blackberries & honey madeleines

Creamy panna cotta, plump British blackberries and warm honey madeleines make a special dessert with very little effort

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 45 mins

Cook time

Cook 25 mins

Plus chilling for 5hrs or overnight

Method

  1. For the panna cotta, put 6 small pudding moulds (about 120ml each) on a baking tray. Soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of very cold water (see tip, below) and set aside.
  2. Put the cream, milk and sugar into a large pan and bring slowly to the boil. When the cream is boiling, add the lemon juice and the lemon and lime zest and whisk well. Simmer for a few mins until reduced slightly, then turn off the heat.
  3. Scoop the softened gelatine out of the water and squeeze off any excess water. Stir into the hot cream, leave until just warm, then strain the cream into a jug. Carefully pour the mix into the moulds and place in the fridge for at least 5 hrs until completely set - overnight is ideal.
  4. To make the madeleines, beat the eggs with the sugar and honey until light and airy. Whisk in the flour and ground almonds until completely incorporated, then gradually whisk in the cooled, melted butter. The batter can be made several hrs in advance.
  5. To bake the madeleines, heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Generously butter, then flour, the madeleine or bun tins. Spoon the batter into the tins and bake for 10-12 mins, depending on the size of the tins.
  6. When the madeleines are golden and baked all the way through, remove from the oven and leave to cool for 2 mins. Tip out of the tin and bake another batch, if you need to. Drizzle the blackberries with liqueur, if using.
  7. To unmould the panna cottas, run the tip of a knife around the edge of the mould. Dip the mould briefly into hot water until the filling just comes away from the sides. Use your fingers to gently loosen the panna cotta away from the edges of the mould. When you are confident that it will turn out, reverse the mould onto a serving plate and gently lift off, releasing the contents.
  8. To plate up, unmould a panna cotta in the middle of each plate, pouring over any melted mix from the mould. Arrange blackberries around half of the panna cotta. Place a few madeleines on the opposite side of the plate. Spoon over a little of the blackberry juices from the bowl and serve straight away.
Try

Cooking with gelatine

Chefs generally use leaf rather than powdered gelatine as it's more reliable and easier to use, but it requires soaking and softening in cold water before it can be dissolved in hot liquid. If your kitchen is very warm and there is a chance that the soaking water might heat up, then ice the water as a precautionary measure. Leaf gelatine used to be harder to find than powdered, but now it is readily available in most supermarkets - just look in the baking section.

Per serving

948 kcalories, protein 12g, carbohydrate 70g, fat 71 g, saturated fat 38g, fibre 3g, sugar 58g, salt 0.21 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2010.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo demoiselle

    25 August 2010

    demoiselle rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is the best panna cotta I have ever tasted.The sharpness is just right and the lime zest adds something special to the taste so don't be tempted to leave it out! I didn't have blackberries as it's not the season yet but used raspberries from the garden with a drizzle of frambois liqueur. All my guests raved about this dessert and wanted the recipe. Although the recipe says to make the madelines just before serving, I think thats a bit of a faff. I made them in advance and just warmed them quckly before serving and they were just as nice!

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  • Binder photo kassam

    13 October 2010

    kassam commented on this recipe

    Just need to know if Chef Ramsay accidentally left out the rising agent from the Madeleine recipe. I made them this evening but found them somewhat hard. I checked other such recipes and they all call for at least 1/2 tsp baking powder. Thanks! Shahida

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  • Binder photo Ian

    10 March 2011

    Ian commented on this recipe

    Replying to Shahida, No, this wasn't a mistake, classic madeleines are made exactly as described, though more often than not the flour and butter get carefully folded in rather than beaten. Just as for a sponge cake, the rising and lightness come from the beaten egg.

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  • Binder photo Nikki Downs

    18 June 2011

    Nikki Downs rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Lovely dessert, used rasberries instead of blackberries and worked really well

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  • Binder photo blueskydreamer

    04 December 2011

    blueskydreamer rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Hopefully my findings about gelatine sheets will help someone else. Not knowing what type, weight, or size of sheets he used I had to figure it out. Finally I found some - Gelita Gold. They weighed 2g each and were approx 30" x 10". No instructions on how many to use for how much liquid on the box. After much deliberating, just went for it and used 4. They turned out fine, but a bit too firm. Next time I would use 3 Gelita sheets. I converted this into a vanilla flavour and left the lemon out. The amount of sugar is (obviously) WAY too much if you don't have the lemon in it. Start with 50g and add more until you get it right. Served with home made melting moments and it was a great combination.

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  • Binder photo French Tracks

    25 January 2012

    French Tracks commented on this recipe

    Excellent dessert ! Works every time. I sometimes change the flavour of the madelines with ground almonds or hazelnuts and of course the fruit but I love lemon desserts so I keep the pannacotta the same.

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  • Binder photo French Tracks

    25 January 2012

    French Tracks rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Excellent dessert ! Works every time. I sometimes change the flavour of the madelines with ground almonds or hazelnuts and of course the fruit but I love lemon desserts so I keep the pannacotta the same.

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  • Binder photo Sabine

    03 February 2012

    Sabine commented on this recipe

    @blueskydreamer Just wondering, did you mean centimetres instead of inches?

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  • Binder photo Boul

    12 February 2012

    Boul rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Sophie

    15 February 2012

    Sophie commented on this recipe

    Can this be made with a vegetarian alternative to gelatine? If yes what? And what would be the quantities?

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  • Binder photo paulb

    18 February 2012

    paulb commented on this recipe

    For Sophie. Yes veggie gelatine substitute is what I use as my wife is vegetarian. 1 sachet sets up to 1 pint. Use a little more to be sure.

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  • Binder photo supaluc

    11 May 2012

    supaluc commented on this recipe

    Very tasty dessert....i did find my Panna Cotta set a bit too firmly but i think a bit of playing around with brands/quantities of gelatine and we should be okay for future attempts..the citrus lime flavour is beautiful :)

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  • Binder photo AT

    03 December 2012

    AT rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this for the first time on Saturday. The recipe is easy to follow and the result tasted lovely. Just the right balance of lemon and lime flavouring. Instead of blackberries, I served with macerated strawberries, with freeze dried strawberries on top and a mini cinnamon shortbread biscuit on the side. Will definitely make again. Great dinner party dessert.

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  • Binder photo smag3

    04 January 2013

    smag3 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this for Christmas lunch. Much easier than I thought it was going to be and added real wow factor to the pudding course. Made it in a loaf tin with a paper insert so turning out was really easy and added a coulis of plums and blueberries. Delicious and spectacular.

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  • Binder photo nkkingston

    16 February 2013

    nkkingston rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I halved this and made it in a loaf tin for Valentine's dessert. It's lovely and smooth and tastes great, but came out a bit solid. I might reduce the gelatine by more than half next time.

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  • Binder photo Nicola

    10 March 2013

    Nicola rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely delicious and far easier to make than I thought. Just the right amount of lemon and lime, tasted much more subtle cold than when I kept tasting when in the pan. I had with raspberries in some elderflower cordial. Lovely.

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  • Binder photo AP

    06 April 2013

    AP commented on this recipe

    Beautifully zingy and easy to make. I have had problems with panna cotta setting like concrete in the past and i was nervous as I also halved the recipe. However, a bit of trial and error has lead me to discover that for a half quantity, one and a quarter gelatin leaves is enough. I also took care not to reduce the liquid too far as I ave found this a contributory factor to it setting like concrete! Hope this helps.

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  • Binder photo jane in spain

    08 April 2013

    jane in spain commented on this recipe

    i was rather worried when i added the lemon juice as the panna cotta thickened immediately and i thought it had curdled. i was not sure what size the gelatine leaves should be, soooooo heres hoping. tastes amazing already still a bity sweet for my palate.

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 45 mins

Cook time

Cook 25 mins

Plus chilling for 5hrs or overnight

Ingredients

FOR THE PANNA COTTA

  • 3 leaves of gelatine (see tip at bottom of page)
  • 600ml double cream
  • 150ml milk
  • 200g caster sugar
  • zest and juice 2 lemons
  • zest 1 lime

FOR THE MADELEINES

  • 3 medium eggs
  • 80g caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 80g plain flour for dusting
  • 40g ground almonds
  • 75g unsalted butter , melted, plus extra for the tin

FOR THE BLACKBERRIES

  • 200g blackberries (about 40 in total)
  • 3 tbsp crème de mûre liqueur or cassis (optional)
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Per serving

948 kcalories, protein 12g, carbohydrate 70g, fat 71 g, saturated fat 38g, fibre 3g, sugar 58g, salt 0.21 g

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