• 9 oz (275 g) fresh cranberries
• 5 oz (150 g) caster sugar
• 5 tablespoons (5 x 15 ml spoons) water
• 2 tablespoons (2 x 15 ml spoons) dark rum
• 1 lemon
• 5 oz (150 g) plain chocolate
• ½ pint (300 ml) double cream
• 2 oz (50 g) icing sugar, sifted

Put all but three or four of the cranberries into a saucepan with the caster sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Then cover the pan and let it simmer for 6-8 minutes until all of the berries have popped and the consistency is mushy and very thick. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. Leave the mixture to become completely cold. Then spoon it into a 2-pint (1.2-litre) pudding basin and spread it up the sides to line it thickly and as evenly as possible.

Finely grate the lemon rind and squeeze out the juice of half the lemon. Whisk the cream until it is beginning to thicken. Then whisk in the sifted icing sugar and continue whisking until the cream holds soft peaks: it should not be too stiff. Very gradually stir in the lemon juice with a metal spoon; then stir in the grated rind. Spoon this syllabub into the centre of the cranberry-lined basin and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Break the chocolate up into small pieces and put it with 2 tablespoons of water in a bowl set over a saucepan of very hot, but not boiling, water. Stir now and then until melted and smooth. Then remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10—15 minutes. Take the cranberry basin out of the fridge, dip it into a sink of very hot water for a minute or two and then turn it out, giving a firm shake, on to a serving plate. Slowly spoon the melted chocolate over the mound of cranberries as evenly as you can. Top the mound with the reserved cranberries and refrigerate it again until you are ready to eat.