Koulla's Charlotta

INGREDIENTS
Base

400g (approx) sponge cake, homemade or shop-bought
3-4 tablespoons brandy or milk
140g approx spoon sweets
3-4 teaspoons crushed roasted almonds or walnuts

Custard
1-litre milk
1 cinnamon quill
6 cloves
zest of one lemon
¼ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
4 egg yolks
75g cornflour
100g sugar

Topping
600ml thickened/double cream
½ teaspoon rose water
crushed nuts and spoon sweets to decorate

METHOD
Cut the cake into 1.5-2cm slices, line the bottom of a large shallow serving bowl and gently press. Drizzle 3-4 cap-fulls of Cypriot brandy over the sponge. Roughly cut the spoon sweets and scatter them and the almonds over the sponge.

 Reserve about a ladle of milk in a cup before pouring it into a large saucepan with the lemon zest, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla on medium-low heat. Bring just to a boil and remove from the heat to cool slightly, then pick out the cinnamon and cloves.
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar and whisk until pale before adding the cornflour and the milk you reserved.

Remove the cinnamon and cloves from the milk and gradually ladle in warm milk to the egg mixture, while whisking simultaneously. Repeat a couple of times before pouring the mixture into the pan. Tempering the egg mixture this way will help avoid scrambling your eggs.

Cook gently on low heat until thickened, whisking continuously.

Pour the custard over the sponge, cover with plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge to set for at least an hour.

Whisk the thickened cream and rose water until soft peaks are formed smooth over the custard. Decorate with spoon sweets, and crushed nuts with your most artistic flair.