Trifle - a truly beloved British dessert. Basically a layered concoction of simple elements, brought together to give you a true treat. Who wouldn't love jelly (jello) made dense and textured with sponge cake or ladies' fingers, custard, cream and hundreds and thousands topping? There are more sophisticated versions: Nigella Lawson's deconstructed for example, where all the elements are laid out separately. Or lemon or chocolate versions, or even Nigel Slater's blackcurrant beauty. Any layered dish containing some sort of jelly, custard, cream and possibly blancmange can be labelled as the magnificent trifle, no matter if it contains real fruit and sherry or simply made from a packet. It's all good.
I'm not so much going to give you a recipe for trifle, more some tips as how to create it.
You need a pack of jelly mixture, (any flavour you fancy), possibly some fruit, a pack of ladies fingers or other biscuits or a sponge cake, a pack of custard or a recipe, some cream and some cake decorations for the top, maybe chocolate sprinkles, hundreds and thousands, silver balls or whatever looks pretty. You also need a large glass bowl.
1. The first layer of a trifle usually consists of jelly, fruit and a disintegrated cake in some arrangement or other. Try laying out a broken up sponge cake or some Italian ladies' fingers biscuits and possibly some fruit into the bottom of a large glass bowl and pour on the boiling hot jelly mixture to help it break up and start to disintegrate. What you want to achieve is a dense, highly textured jelly, so you may need to stir quite frequently as it sets in the fridge to evenly distribute the cake. The jelly can be replaced simply by fruit, cake or biscuits.You can also add some booze to the jelly or fruit. Sherry works well, as does port or any of the sweeter dessert type wines.
2. The custard layer should be made slightly thicker than recommended to ensure the trifle has a nice thick and dense texture, especially when you take a serving from it. Too many trifles have gone the disastrous route of sloppy. There is nothing worse than the embarrassment of a collapsed trifle.
3. You may add a layer of blancmange now if you are feeling posh or fancy. I tried once and it didn't really add anything, so I wouldn't bother personally, but, it's your trifle, do so if you really need to.
4. The cream topping can be simply whipped cream with a nice liquer poured in. Baileys, Tia Maria, Kahlua, you get the idea. A few tbsp added as you whip will be suffice. Make sure the cream is whipped really well until peaks form and feel free to add some sugar, (confectioners or icing), to give it a sweeter taste. If you are using a packet mix of trifle, the 'cream' topping is an artificial, overly sweet powder called Dream topping. It's Okay and tastes like traditional Christmas, but I think some booze laced real cream works best.
5. The trifle can be decorated any way you choose, although it's best to sprinkle all those garishly coloured bits on just before serving or they will melt and create a psychedelic tie dyed t shirt effect, which can be fairly appealing. If you'd like to decorate your trifle more naturally, flaked almonds or some more fruit seems to be a popular option.
Here are some other trifle recipes for you to persuse:
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