Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in the 2022 series of BBC TV’s Masterchef competition.

Every Saturday Yemi writes on the Stray Ferret about her love of the area’s food and shares cooking tips – please get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell or even share a recipe.

The final day of the Great Yorkshire Day did not disappoint when it came to the food theatre with a few 'firsts' for the show. 

It was the first time cake decoration was showcased, and Charlie from HG1 Bakes did not disappoint creating a beautiful cake with the colours of the Great Yorkshire Show.

Another first was Rob and David Nicholson from award-winning Cannon Hall Farm joining me on the cookery theatre stage for my demo creating beautiful dishes including Nigerian stewed eggs with similar ingredients to shakshuka, suya spiced quail, labneh topped with fermented chilli honey and flatbread finished with zataar-honey-olive oil dressing.

Recreate an iconic Bettys recipes at home

Who doesn’t love Bettys? 

Proudly part of Harrogate’s story, it was a pleasure to have Lisa Bennison and her team showcase an iconic item from the Bettys menu – the custard slice.

The elegant creation of crispy pastry, soft set vanilla custard and the intricate design is certainly a stand-out on their dessert trolley.

Now you can give it a go and make your own version - Lisa was kind to share it with the audience and gave me permission to share the recipe with you. 

Split into three parts, you'll need to make the custard, then make the pastry, before assembling your creation. The custard needs to set for three hours, and you can finish the rest of the process while it’s setting.

Part One - French vanilla custard

Ingredients (makes 400ml):

• 150ml whole milk.
  
• 200ml double cream.
  
• ½ fresh vanilla pod (split and seeds removed).
  
• 5 medium eggs (70g of egg yolk only).
  
• 40g icing sugar.
  
• 10g cornflour.
  
• 10g butter.
  
• 4.5g leaf gelatine.
  

Equipment

1lb straight sided loaf tin.

Method

• Place the eglantine leaves into a bowl of cold water to soak.
  
• In a separate bowl, which together the egg yolks, icing sugar and cornflour to make a paste.
  
• Pour the milk, vanilla pod and seeds into a heavy based pan. Gently bring to scalding point over a low heat.
  
• Once the mixture has reached scalding point, strain the milk into the egg paste, whisking constantly until smooth.
  
• Pour the mixture into a clean pan and cook gently over a medium heat, whisking constantly. The mixture will gradually begin to thicken.
  
• Remove from the heat and add the eglantine and butter, stir well until mixed. Place a piece of cling film on the surface of the mixture and set aside to cool.
  
• Once the mixture has cooled, remove the cling film. Using a large spoon push the mixture to one side of the bowl. In the empty side of the bowl pour in the double cream.
  
• Begin to fold the double cream into the mixture until a smooth custard has been achieved.
  
• Add the custard into your 1lb loaf tin and refrigerate​ for a minimum of four hours.
  

Part Two - Vanilla slice pastry

Ingredients

• 200g puff pastry.
  
• 20g Icing sugar.
  

Method

• Preheat oven to 190C (fan assisted).
  
• Generously dust the work surface with icing sugar. Pin out the puff pastry into a large rectangle, the size of an A4 piece of paper.
  
• Transfer the pastry rectangle to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place another piece of parchment paper on top followed by another baking sheet sandwiching the pastry.
  
• Place the pastry in the fridge to chill for 15 – 20 minutes before baking. One the pastry has cooled, transfer to the preheated oven to bake for 20 minutes.
  
• After 20 minutes, take the pastry out of the oven and remove the top baking sheet and parchment paper. 
  
• Sprinkle the pastry with icing sugar and return to the oven, uncovered for a further five minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Once the pastry has baked, place on a wire each to cool.
  

Part Three - Vanilla slice assembly

Ingredients​

• 40g raspberry jam (transferred into a piping bag).
  
• 50g fondant icing.
  
• 400g vanilla custard.
  
• Few drops of water.
  

Method

• Place the pastry base on a chopping board. Cut a very fine hole in the piping bag filled with jam. Pipe one third of the jam onto the base and spread evenly and so as not the break the base.
  
• Remove the set custard from the 1lb loaf tin and place on top of the raspberry jam. Then spread one-third of jam on top of the custard, again spreading the jam evenly and carefully.
  
• Warm the fondant in a small pan with a sprinkle of water over a medium heat. Be careful not to overheat the mixture. 
  
• Heat until the fondant becomes a pouring consistency, but not too runny.
  
• With the pastry top on a cooling wire, pour the fondant icing to flood the pastry top, Work quickly and carefully to spread the fondant thinly and evenly.
  
• Whilst the fondant is still warm, pipe thin lines of jam down the length of the pastry top. Take a cocktail stick to make a feather pattern. Leave to set for a few minutes.
  
• Using a sharp knife cut the pastry tops into four equal slices and place on top of the vanilla custard. Cut the vanilla slices through to the base.
  

Yemi's top tip: For the freshest flavour, store the vanilla slices in the fridge and eat within two days.