Strawberry and rhubarb panna cotta (cake)

Last Friday I was with a group of people from work in Sokos Hotel Flamingo in Vantaa, and happened to also have a taste of vanilla panna cotta with summer berries. 

I have to admit that I had never eaten, let alone made a panna cotta before, so from the first spoonful my mind was racing with different ways to modify this dessert.

I browsed through the internet for different panna cotta recipes (and there are many!), and finally decided to combine them into my own version.

I wanted to fight the traditional way of serving this dessert and decided to make it in a springform pan (not a good idea), so I made a biscuit crumb layer in the bottom. Using a springform pan with this recipe was challenging, as the thin liquid panna cotta mix oozed out the sides before setting, and I had to spoon it back in the tin a couple of times. Luckily I was far-wise (?) and put the entire tin on a larger plate to begin with. (Perhaps it might have helped if I'd let the panna cotta mix cool down and set a bit more before pouring into the pan?)


Biscuit base: (for a ø20cm tin)

120 g   oatmeal biscuits
50 g     margarine

Crush the biscuits into small crumbs. Melt the margarine and add into the crumbs. Place a baking sheet into a springform pan and spread the biscuit crumbs evenly by pressing gently into the bottom of the pan.



Panna cotta:

6 dl       double cream
2 dl       semi-skimmed milk
0,5 dl    sugar
1           vanilla bean
5           gelatin leaves

Pour the cream, milk and sugar into a pan. Slice the vanilla bean lengthways and scrape the seeds into the cream. Boil the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla bean in a pan. Take off the heat, remove the vanilla bean, and carry on mixing every now and then. 
Put the gelatin leaves into cold water to soak for 5-10 minutes. When the gelatin leaves are soft, squeeze out excess water.
Put the gelatin leaves into the warm cream-mix and stir until they're completely dissolved. Let the mix cool down to body temperature before pouring into (cooled) dessert bowls. Let set in the fridge for a few hours.

If you want to try your luck with the springform pan, I recommend to try cooling the cream-mix down to a semi-set stage before pouring into the pan. Or alternatively you can spoon the oozed-out mix back into the pan every half an hour. :)


Rhubarb topping:

2 dl        water
2 dl        rhubarb sliced (approx.100g)
1 dl        jam sugar

Put the water and the rhubarb into a pan and bring to boil. Add the jam sugar into the boiling mix while stirring. Let cool down slightly and spoon over the already set panna cotta (over frozen or fresh strawberries). Place back in the fridge and let set for a while.