Christmas and New Year in Australia falls in summer, so any images of mulled wine and warm gingerbread cookies are great in theory, not so much in real life. And after a heavy meal, something refreshing is the way to go, particularly in the heat! This jelly was inspired by the Prosecco Berry-Cherry Jelly spied across on the David Jones blog, however I decided to up the ante and make it a cocktail jelly instead.

The Kir Royale is a simple yet classic champagne cocktail which combines creme de cassis with champagne. The cassis itself is a sweet dark liqueur made from blackcurrants so is the perfect accompaniment to the prosecco in the jelly. I only add half the prosecco when making the jelly and add the remainder with the cassis at the end, so that it retains a little of the alcoholic punch. The cassis is also what gives this jelly that deep dark burgundy colour - because that colour is so dark, there is little point in putting any berries into any partially set jelly, as you simply won’t see them; save it for garnishing the top of the jelly instead.

If you like, you can omit the vanilla custard jelly base and just make it a “plain” Kir Royale jelly.

HOW TO MAKE THE KIR ROYALE JELLY

Ingredients

For vanilla custard jelly base

• 2 cups (500ml) milk

• 1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar

• 1 vanilla bean pod

• 6 titanium strength gelatine leaves (soften this in cold water for a few minutes)

• 500g creme fraiche

For Kir Royale jelly

• 750ml bottle prosecco

• 100ml Marionette cassis liqueur

• 1 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar

• 150g pitted cherries

• 100g raspberries

• 50g blueberries

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

• 15 titanium strength gelatine leaves (soften this in cold water for a few minutes)

• Extra berries and mint leaves to garnish

Instructions

To make the Kir Royale jelly

• Combine 350ml prosecco, sugar, lemon juice, cherries, raspberries and blueberries with 3 cups water in the pan.

• Bring to boil then lower heat to a simmer

• Let simmer for around 5-10 minutes until berries release their juices

• Remove from heat.

• Squeeze excess water from the gelatine leaves before stirring the gelatine leaves into the mixture in the pan to dissolve

• Add the rest of the prosecco and the cassis

• Strain the mixture into a fluted mould.

• Refrigerate for 6-8 hours

To make the custard jelly base

• Combine milk and sugar in pan

• Scrape seeds from the vanilla bean pod and stir into the pan with the milk and sugar. Drop the vanilla pod in the same pan.

• Heat the milk mixture until just boiling then turn down heat to a simmer. Stir to ensure sugar and vanilla bean is combined.

• Remove from heat.

• Squeeze excess water from gelatine leaves before stirring the gelatine leaves in the milk mixture to dissolve

• Whisk the cream fraiche until smooth

• Gradually add the milk mixture into the creme fraiche and whisk until combined

• Pour the mixture into the mould with the Kir Royale jelly

• Refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight to set

To serve

• To remove jelly from mould, dip the mould in some hot water (but be sure not to let the hot water touch the jelly!). You only need to do this for 30 seconds or so! (I made the mistake of letting it sit for a while and had to put the mould back into the fridge to let it set again!)

• Gently prise the jelly away from the sides with your fingers (or use a sharp knife) to loosen onto plate

• Decorate with berries and mint leaves