Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Honey Jelly and Banana Quark Cream

I wanted my panna cotta to be soft and silky so I used some milk instead of cream and I think I got exactly the right consistency – smooth and creamy, melt-in-your-mouth. However, I'm not sure how it'd turn out if unmoulded. I used real vanilla seeds rather than extract; the vanilla adds wonderful depth and flavour to the panna cotta, but the seeds tend to sink to the bottom of the bowl. The recipe for honey jelly is very simple; it's not too sweet and has just a touch of honey flavour which complements the vanilla panna cotta extremely well. I added a final third flavour because it needed something not so sweet and a bit on the sour side – banana paired with quark cheese and organic vanilla brown sugar.

Panna Cotta: Sprinkle powdered gelatin over 45ml cold milk in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes. The gelatin will absorb the milk. Heat whipping cream, the rest of milk, sugar, seeds from vanilla pod and the pod itself in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture reaches 80C. Do not boil! Pour the very warm mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Let cool a bit for about 5 minutes.

Honey Jelly: Pour the water and honey into a pot, and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Leave to rest for 5 minutes to allow the gelatin to absorb some of the water, then place on the stove over a low flame and stir constantly till it reaches 90C and the gelatin is dissolved. Set aside to cool slightly (for about 10-15 minutes).

Banana Quark Cream: Pour milk and sugar into a small pot and heat over low flame until the sugar is dissolved. Cut banana into small pieces, add quark cheese and cooled milk-sugar mixture and mix until puree-like, smooth and creamy.

Assembling: Divide panna cotta into 4 glasses (don't use it all – keep about 1/2 cup of the mixture for another layer). Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes or until the surface is thick and firm. Now carefully pour a thin layer of honey jelly into each glass with panna cotta. Refrigerate for another 30-60 minutes or until the honey jelly is set. Then again carefully pour the final layer of panna cotta onto the honey jelly layer and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Fill your pastry bag with plain tip with banana quark cream and decorate the top of panna cotta as desired. As an additional decoration you can use honey, fresh banana etc.

• If you cannot find quark cheese (it's typical for Europe and has sour creamy taste, low fat content), you can use cream cheese with lower fat content.