Lemon panna cotta with a raspberry jelly, an impressive dessert that’s simple to make. A great dinner party dish.
Lemon panna cotta is a great dessert for novice cooks. We’ve paired ours with a raspberry jelly and although it looks impressive it’s simple to cook.
This lemon panna cotta recipe is a great make ahead dish. You can feed 4 with our recipe or pop into smaller glasses for and feed 8 at a drinks party with other canapes.
What is panna cotta?
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made with cream and milk and set with gelatin (panna cotta means “cooked cream” in Italian). A little sugar is added to sweeten the cream, however I find this dessert doesn’t require too much added.
Recipe steps: how to make panna cotta?
Whilst this lemon panna cotta recipe takes very little in the way of actual preparation, you do need time to allow everything to set!
You have first to allow a couple of hours for the lemon panna cotta to cool and set firm. Only once the panna cotta has set can you move onto the next step!
Next make the raspberry jelly and allow it to cool before pouring over the panna cotta. You must ensure that the jelly is cool enough to pour on top of the creamy panna cotta as you don’t want the jelly bleeding into the cream.
A further two hours is then needed to set the jelly!
Can I make lemon panna cotta ahead of time?
This is a dessert that I like to prepare the day before I need it, allowing time for each layer to set.
However that also means no last minute running around during dinner itself. This is one of my go-to prep ahead dishes as it can be made up to 3 days beforehand and simply served straight from the fridge!
Just ensure that you place some cling film directly on top of the dessert to stop a skin from forming on the cream!
Can you freeze this dessert?
Due to having a high dairy content, this dessert freezes really well. Simply allow the dessert to cool and set, before placing in the freezer. When ready to serve remove from the freezer and allow to defrost overnight in the fridge.
Flavour substitutions:
Panna cotta as a great dessert for carrying flavours as the cream can be easily adapted and I like to experiment. We’ve used lemon in this dish, but you can use any of the following flavours:
- citrus: orange; grapefruit
- berries: strawberry; blackberry; blackcurrant
- vanilla
- chocolate
- coffee
- coconut
Ensure that you pair your panna cotta with a flavoured jelly that works well with it. For example a chocolate panna cotta with an orange jelly!
Allergy advice: egg and gluten free!
I first started making panna cotta years ago with my daughter who loves cooking but was severely allergic to eggs. This simple lemon panna cotta allowed her to cook alongside me, without putting her at any risk.
Lemon panna cotta is a cream based dessert, therefore she could prepare the entire dish without much help from me.
There are no eggs used to set panna cotta nor any ingredients that contain gluten. Therefore this is a great dessert for those with egg allergies or Coeliacs who need to avoid gluten.
Low sugar diabetic suitable dessert?
We ran a private Supperclub recently where one of the group was diabetic. Rather than cause a fuss she said she’d just try a taste of dessert, but would take some cheese while others enjoyed dessert.
However we want all our diners to enjoy the experience so we got to thinking about a dessert that would work for our diabetic diner.
I know that pastry and anything cake based can be really difficult due to the high sugar content. So we opted for a panna cotta, cutting right back on the sugar and pairing it with a really sharp raspberry jelly.
For the rest of the diners we added honeycomb for a hit of added sweetness. However we left this off our diabetic diners plate. Our guest was delighted as she was able to eat most of it, as she normally has to miss dessert
Happy diner, happy hosts!
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Additional recipe suggestions:
If you like this recipe then try some of our other great desserts:
- Vanilla Panna Cotta & Orange Jelly
- Easy Lemon Tiramisu with Limoncello
- No-bake Lime & Ginger Cheesecake
- Lemon Tart with Limoncello Ice-cream
- Orange Sorbet
For more inspiration have a read of our No Bake Desserts post which contains helpful hints and tips as well as a great selection of our favourite no bake dessert recipe.
Lemon Panna Cotta with Raspberry Jelly
Ingredients
Lemon panna cotta
- 3 gelatine leaves
- 250 ml whole milk
- 250 ml double cream
- 25 g caster sugar
- zest of 2 lemons
Raspberry jelly
- 3 gelatine leaves
- 300 g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- 80 g caster sugar
- 150 ml water
Instructions
Lemon panna cotta
- Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water and set aside till they soften.
- Place the milk, cream, sugar and lemon zest in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
- Remove the gelatine leaves from the cold water and squeeze out the water. Add the gelatine to the saucepan and stir until the gelatine has dissolved.
- Pour the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the lemon zest. Then pour into 4 serving glasses and allow to cool. Once cool place in the fridge for at least an hour to allow the panna cotta to set.
Raspberry jelly
- Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water and set aside till they soften.
- Pour the remaining ingredients into a saucepan and simmer gently, using a spoon to break down the raspberries to a pulp.
- Strain the raspberry liquid through a really fine sieve, using a spoon to push through as much of the puree as you can.
- Remove the gelatine leaves from the cold water and squeeze out the water. Add the gelatine to the raspberry juice and stir until the gelatine has dissolved. (check the directions on your gelatine to ensure adequate leaves to the final strained raspberry juice).
- Set aside until the liquid has cooled completely but not yet started to thicken. It is essential that the jelly is cool before you pour it over the panna cotta – otherwise the jelly will bleed into the cream.
- Remove the panna cotta from the fridge and gently pour over the raspberry jelly. Place back in the fridge for a couple of hours to allow the jelly to set. Serve chilled from the fridge.
Notes
• Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only •