This is my traditional dessert for a cold Christmas lunch on what is usually a hot Australian Christmas day. The day, this year, 2013, was a little cooler than usual, but the trifle was well received as a “lighter” offering after our numerous savoury courses.
The photos are of the large trifle and a smaller one I also made.
This is a rough method for the making of the trifle rather than a recipe!
My version of trifle consists of butter cake, broken into chunks, which line a glass bowl. The cake is then soaked in Grand Marnier – any sweet liqueur would work well.
Layer some raspberry jelly over the cake, followed by “real” custard, a good recipe from Jamie Oliver for which is written below.
Leave to chill in the fridge for a few hours. Spoon whipped cream over the trifle, and top with fresh strawberries or other berries.
Leave in the fridge for several hours, up to a day, for the flavours to meld.
Custard
Adapted from “Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook” by Jamie Oliver
Ingredients
500 ml whole milk
500 m heavy cream
6 tbls sugar
1 vanilla bean, scored lengthways
8 large free range egg yolks
Method
Mix cream, milk, and four tablespoons of sugar in a saucepan over medium low heat.
Scrape out all the seeds in the vanilla bean into the saucepan, including the bean.
Stir with a wooden spoon until it boils and then turn off the heat.
Let it sit for a few minutes to let the vanilla infuse with the cream and milk mixture.
In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks with 2 tablespoons of sugar until pale yellow in colour.
Remove the bean from the saucepan and slowly add one ladle of the cream mixture to the yolks while whisking them together.
Keep whisking and slowly add a couple more ladles.
Pour the yolk mixture back into the saucepan with cream and milk and stir with a wooden spoon under medium heat.
As the eggs cook, the custard will thicken in several minutes. It is thick enough if it coats the back of the wooden spoon.
Chill the custard before pouring over the jelly and cake.
The Quirk and the Cool 