Olive-oil cake with goat’s-cheese ice cream, vanilla crème, candied olives and strawberries

For the ice cream, gently heat the goat’s cheese and 500ml (2 cups) cream.

Whisk together the egg yolks, 30g sugar and glucose until pale yellow. Pour the warm cream mixture into the yolk mixture and cook over a double boiler until it reaches a sabayon consistency or ribbon stage. Strain the mixture and allow to cool. Churn in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Once churned, place in the freezer to freeze completely. Alternatively, if you do not have an ice-cream maker, place in a freezer-proof container in the freezer. Just before frozen, but still liquid, beat with electric beaters until smooth. Return to the freezer until frozen completely.

For the vanilla crème, heat the milk, 100ml of the cream, 30g sugar and vanilla seeds in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Place the gelatine in water and allow to sponge, 5 minutes. Squeeze out any excess water from the leaves and add to the cream mixture. Stir until dissolved, strain and refrigerate to cool until almost set.

Beat the remaining 100ml cream to medium-soft peaks. Fold through the gelatine mixture, pour into a small 10cm x 10cm tray and refrigerate to set, about 30 minutes. Once set, cut into 2cm x 2cm squares.

For the olive-oil cakes, preheat the oven to 160°C. Whisk together the honey, egg and 30g sugar until smooth.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, then add this to the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating on a slow speed. Slowly add the olive oil and continue to beat until the mixture is fluffy and the olive oil has been fully absorbed into the batter. Spread the batter onto silpat mat or tray lined with baking paper to about 0,2cm thickness. Bake in the preheated oven, 15 minutes. Remove from oven and dust with castor sugar. Cover with baking paper and flip over. Peel off the baking paper or silpat mat and allow to cool before cutting into 3cm x 3cm squares.

For the syrup, combine all of the ingredients in a pot over medium heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved.

For the candied olives, preheat the oven to 85°C. Cook the olives in the stock syrup in a saucepan over low heat, 5 minutes. Strain, then dry out in the oven, about 1 hour. Roughly chop up.

For the meringues, preheat oven to 85°C. Whisk the egg whites and 60g castor sugar together until thick and glossy. Spread the mixture, about 0,2cm thick, on a lined baking sheet and bake until dry, 45 minutes – 1 hour. Once cooled, break into shards.

For the buttermilk sauce, stir all of the ingredients together until combined and emulsified.

To assemble the dish, spoon some buttermilk sauce onto each plate. Top with a cake square, followed by a vanilla crème square sprinkled with chopped candied olives. Add a scoop of ice cream, and finish with a scattering of strawberries and raspberries and a shard of meringue. Garnish with fresh mint to serve.