Ingredients

Serves 8-10

100g blueberries
100g blackberries
60g caster sugar
1-1½ tablespoons powdered gelatine
100g boysenberries
100g raspberries
500ml cream, whipped
500ml pastry cream
100ml Alchermes liqueur
150ml sugar syrup
Fresh berries, extra
Icing sugar

Sponge cake Ingredients
2 teaspoons butter
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
150g caster sugar
1-1½ tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
100g flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder

Method

Sponge Cake:
To make the sponge cake, pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
Grease a 20cm spring-form tin well with the butter and line the bottom of the tin with baking paper.

Put the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, honey and lemon zest in a double boiler and whisk until warm but not hot (if you have a cooking thermometer, the temperature should be 40°C).
Meanwhile, sift the flour and baking powder together. Remove the honey mixture from the heat and, using an electric mixer, whip until nearly tripled in volume.

Gently sift the flour and baking powder over and, using a wooden spoon, fold until there are no lumps. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and carefully peel the paper off. Allow to cool completely.

Berries:
Put the blueberries, blackberries and caster sugar in a pot and cook over a medium heat for 4-5 minutes, or until the sugar dissolves and liquid comes out of the berries but they remain whole. Take care not to burn the berries.
Dissolve the gelatine in a little boiling water and add to the berries, stirring. Add the boysenberries and the raspberries and mix gently. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until the mixture starts to firm but is still pliable.

Cream:
Gently fold half the cream into the pastry cream and blend well. Fold in the remaining cream.

In a separate wide bowl, mix the liqueur and sugar syrup.

To assemble:
Cut the sponge cake into 1cm slices.
Take a large (2litre) serving bowl. Lightly soak some cake slices in the liqueur, then put them in the serving bowl in a single layer.

Spread with cream and berries. Repeat, gently pressing the layers together after each addition, and making sure you reserve 1 cup of jelly from the berries.

When you reach the rim of the bowl, soak the last slices of cake in liqueur and press them on top. Barely melt the reserved jelly over a low heat and brush liberally over the top of the cake. Decorate with fresh berries and dust with icing sugar.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving, or overnight, if possible.