Cranachan — Scottish raspberry dessert with cream, honey and oats

Put all 60 g oats in a dry frying pan and toast over medium-low heat for about 5–7 minutes, stirring often. The oats should turn lightly golden and smell nutty, without dark scorched patches. Do not add butter, oil or sugar. Immediately tip onto a large plate, spread in a thin layer and leave for about 15–20 minutes, until completely cooled. Reserve one-third of the cold oats in a dry, lidded container for sprinkling; keep the rest for the cream. Do not add warm oats to whipped cream.

Pick over the raspberries, briefly rinse if needed and gently dry, then weigh out 300 g prepared fruit. Reserve 60 g of the prettiest whole raspberries and refrigerate them. Mash the remaining 240 g with a fork in a bowl with 15 g honey. Keep small pieces, seeds and all the juice, without pressing through a sieve or cooking. Do not add separate sugar.

Pour the weighed 400 g cold cream into a chilled bowl. Beat with a mixer until clear, springy beater marks and a soft peak form, without a grainy texture. Add the remaining 30 g liquid honey and all the weighed 25 g whisky, then briefly combine on low speed or with a spatula. The cream should stay fluffy and spoonable. Do not heat the honey or whisky before adding them and do not pour extra alcohol into the dessert cups.

Check that the oats intended for the cream are completely cold. Add them to the cream and fold gently with a spatula, using only a few strokes from the bottom. Keep the reserved one-third separate so it stays crisp until serving. Do not mix the raspberries into the whole bowl of cream now; they will be arranged in separate layers.

Prepare four glasses or dessert cups holding about 300–350 ml. Divide half the mashed raspberries with all their juice among the bottoms of the glasses. Add half the oat cream, then the remaining raspberries and finally the rest of the cream. Use all the prepared mashed fruit and all the cream mixture, scraping the bowls clean. Each glass will have two layers of raspberries and two layers of cream. Cover and refrigerate for about 30–60 minutes. Keep the fruit and oats for finishing separate for now.

Just before serving, divide all the reserved one-third of the oats and all 60 g whole raspberries over the tops. Do not add mint, cookies, extra honey or confectioners' sugar. Serve the dessert chilled. It is best made and eaten the same day; keep any leftovers covered in the refrigerator and eat within 24 hours, remembering that the oats gradually soften. The whisky added to the cold cream is not cooked, so the dessert contains alcohol.