Ingredients

• 350g/12oz raspberries
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• plus extra to taste
• 200ml/7fl oz double cream
• 200ml/7fl oz crème fraîche
• 1 vanilla pod
• split
• seeds scraped out
• 12 ready-made shortbread thin rounds
• 200g/7oz caster sugar

Directions

• Place the raspberries and the icing sugar into a food processor and blend to a smooth purée.
• Pass the raspberry sauce through a sieve into a bowl and check the sweetness. Add more icing sugar to sweeten the sauce to your taste.
• Place the double cream into a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed.
• Add the crème fraîche and the seeds from the vanilla pod and gently fold together to combine.
• Place the caster sugar into a saucepan and heat until it has melted and formed a golden-brown caramel. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
• Dip a spoon into the caramel and rapidly drizzle the caramel across a clean knife steel or the long handle of a wooden or metal spoon. The caramel will cool quickly and form thin strands.
• Pinch the caramel strands together and set aside.
• To serve
• place a spoonful of the raspberry sauce onto each of four plates. Place a shortbread thin into the centre of the pools of sauce. Top each shortbread with a spoonful of the vanilla cream mixture.
• Top each vanilla cream layer with another shortbread thin
• then add another spoonful of vanilla cream and finish each with a final shortbread thin.
• Dust with icing sugar.
• Holding one end with oven gloves
• place the other end of a metal skewer into a gas flame and heat until glowing. Place the skewer across the icing sugar-dusted top of each stack twice to mark a cross. The sugar will caramelise with the heat of the skewer.
• Top each stack with spun sugar strands and serve.