There’s more to festive treats than heavy mince pies and even heavier Christmas pud, writes Nick Mosley.
Maybe I’m the exception, but nothing strikes fear into my food-loving heart more than the prospect of a bowl of Christmas pudding and brandy sauce being plonked in front of me after an already gut-busting roast lunch. Across December, I might squeeze in one or two mince pies but only if they’re made with lots of butter – some of the cheaper supermarket pies are pretty grim and tasteless.
Thankfully, there are plenty of other sweet offerings on the market nowadays that are more contemporary and creative than the stodge of the yule times past, and leading that charge in Brighton is gelato maestro Seb Cole of Boho Gelato in Pool Valley and Ship Street.
As any regular reader of The Argus Taste section will know, Seb is not afraid of pushing boundaries with his products and is always the first to embrace new flavours and techniques whilst remaining true to the Italian ice cream tradition.
“We’ll be making festive flavours again in the shop”, said Seb.
“Alongside proven popular flavours such as Stollen, Sherry Trifle, Christmas Pud, Hazelnut Orange Brûlée, Chocolate with Blood Orange, Cinnamon with Fig and Gingerbread Cheesecake, we’ll be including some slightly more obscure new ideas”.
Its not just ice cream on offer this year. Seb is also selling a range of decorated biscuits and cake bites, however the star of the show is always his ice-cream bombe glacés.
As refrigeration technology advanced in the restaurants and big houses of Europe in the 1800s, the bombe glacé became a popular dessert table centrepiece with chefs attempting to amaze guests – and no doubt out-do each other – with new flavours and designs.
For the past couple of years, Seb has been serving up both dairy and vegan festive flavoured bombe glacés in the shape of Christmas pudding – in both large and small sizes – and this year he’ll be adding a further design themed around ‘The Royal Pavilion in the Snow’.
“I’ll be reusing the mould I bought for September’s BITE Sussex Regency Banquet”, said Seb. “The filling will be coffee and apricot kernel and I dare say that they’ll be lots of white chocolate too. The confection will be topped with meringues and dressed with handmade candied fruit to give a touch of decadence. It will make a show-stopping dessert centrepiece and easily feed 8-10 guests”.
Seb’s Christmas Pudding bombe glacés start at £17.50; ‘The Royal Pavilion in the Snow’ is £45. You can pre-order by visiting one of the Boho Gelato shops or alternatively online at www.bohogelato.co.uk. Local deliveries will be made from 11 December.