Floating islands is a traditional British recipe, based on Hannah Glasse's recipe of 1747, for a classic dessert of bread sitting on a sweetened cream base that's garnished with whipped cream and topped with cream froth before being dressed with jellies, sweetmeats or preserved fruit. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Floating islands.
(click this button to prevent the screen from sleeping so Cook Mode is 'ON')
This is a traditional British recipe redacted from Hannah Glasse's 1747 volume The Aft of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, the classic Georgian cookbook.
The floating iſland, a pretty diſh for the middle of a table at a ſecond courſe, or for ſupper.
YOU may take a ſoop-diſh, according to the ſize and quantity you would make, but a pretty deep glaſs is beſt, and ſet it on a china diſh ; firſt take a quart of the thickeſt cream you can get, make it pretty ſweet with fine ſugar, pour in a gill of ſack, grate the yellow rind of a lemon in, and mill the cream till it is all of a thick froth, then as carefully as you can pour the thin from the froth, into a diſh ; take a French roll, or as many as you want, cut it as thin as you can, lay a layer of that as light as poſſible on the cream, then a layer of currant jelly, then a very thin layer of roll, and then hartſhorn jelly, then French roll, and over that whip your froth which you ſave on the cream very well milled up, and lay at top as high as you can heap it ; and as for the room of the diſh, ſet it round with fruit or ſweetmeats, according to your fancy. This looks very pretty in the middle of the table with candles round it, and you may make it of as many different colours as you fancy, and according to what jellies and giams or ſweetmets you have ; or at the bottom of your diſh you may put the thickeſt cream you can get : but that is as you fancy.
Combine the cream, sugar, sack and lemon zest in a bowl. Whisk with an electric whisk until frothy, then carefully pour out the liquid into a glass bowl (leave the froth behind).
Set the bowl on a serving plate then halve the bread rolls and set these to float in the cream mix. Form quenelles with the whipped cream using two spoons and set these to float in the centre of the dish.
Now take your frothed cream and spoon this on top of the bread.
Decorate the base of the dish with fruit, preserved fruit, jellies or sweetmeats and serve.
