Hot cross bun and baked custard pudding

For the custard, whisk the egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar together in a bowl.

Place the milk, cream and the vanilla pod and seeds into a pan over a low heat and slowly bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and remove the vanilla pod.

Pour the milk and cream onto the egg mixture and whisk well.

Butter the hot cross buns, then cut into quarters.

Place a layer of the hot cross buns into a 22cm/9in x 10cm/4in, 5cm/2in deep ovenproof dish.

Sprinkle with some sultanas and raisins and the demerara sugar. Repeat the layers and finish with a final layer of buns.

Pour the custard over the buns and leave to stand for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4.

Place the dish into a deep roasting tray and add enough water to the tray to come a third of the way up the dish (this is a bain-marie).

Carefully place the pudding and bain-marie into the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the custard has set.

Preheat the grill to its highest setting.

Remove the pudding from the bain-marie and sprinkle with a little caster sugar and place under the grill and cook until the top has caramelised and is golden-brown.

For the mascarpone quenelles, place the whipped cream, mascarpone, sugar and vanilla seeds into a bowl and gently fold to combine.

Technique: Folding To create quenelles of the mascarpone mixture, take two tablespoons, warmed in hot water. Scoop up some mascarpone mixture onto one spoon, then scrape off onto the other spoon in a smooth motion.

Finally scrape the half-formed quenelle smoothly onto the first spoon to create a smooth, rugby ball-shaped quenelle.

To serve, spoon a generous portion of the pudding onto each plate and top with a quenelle of mascarpone.