Add this easy to create sweet dessert to your dinner table on Christmas day!
Ingredients
1 x 450g / 14 oz Madeira cake or Pound cake store-bought
1/3 cup orange or other fruit flavoured liquor (like Cointreau), or other fruit juice
7 tsp gelatine powder
6 cups Cranberry juice, original
2 - 3 punnets strawberries, halved
1 each punnet blueberries, raspberries
Cream:
2 1/2 cups heavy / thickened cream
3 tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Homemade thick custard:
3 cups milk
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
1/4 cup caster sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup cornflour / cornstarch
Method
Cut cake into 3 cm / 1.2″ cubes. Cover bottom of 3.5 L / 3.5 qt trifle dish with cake (might not use all) and sprinkle with liquor or juice.
Cranberry Jelly:
Put half the cranberry juice into a saucepan over medium heat (3 cups / 750ml). Bring to a simmer, then turn off the stove.
Meanwhile, put remaining room temperature cranberry juice into a bowl. Sprinkle gelatine all across the surface (don't dump in one place). Whisk until mostly dissolved.
Pour in hot cranberry juice. Whisk until the gelatin is fully dissolved. Proceed with the recipe – jelly will be warm.
Jelly Layer 1:
Pour HALF the cranberry jelly liquid carefully over the cake in the trifle dish. Refrigerate uncovered for 1.5 hours until it is partly set – still quite soft, but not watery (ie if you gently place a strawberry on it, it will stay on the surface).
Pour remaining jelly in a bowl and leave it on the counter (do not refrigerate).
Meanwhile, make the custard (see below).
Custard Layer:
Remove trifle from the fridge. Spoon over the custard, smooth surface, press on the glass to seal (stops jelly bleed). Refrigerate for 1 hour until the surface has firmed up a bit – just enough to hold the jelly (jelly is soft so the custard doesn’t need to be fully set).
Put remaining jelly in the fridge at the same time. CHECK jelly at 30 minutes, just to ensure it's not setting too fast.
Jelly Layer 2:
Remove trifle and jelly from the fridge. Jelly should be sloppy. Carefully spoon over the jelly, smooth surface. Scatter over 1 punnet halved strawberries (or half each raspberry and strawberries). Refrigerate for 3 hours+ (can leave in the fridge for 48 hours, until ready to assemble).
Assembling:
Cream: Beat cream, sugar and vanilla until softly whipped.
Once jelly is set, just before serving, top with cream, then pile over remaining berries. Dust with icing sugar.
Serve!! PS It is imperative to ensure every servings includes a bit of every layer in the trifle
Homemade Custard:
Bring milk, ¼ cup sugar and vanilla to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not boil.
In a large bowl, whisk together remaining ¼ cup sugar and yolks, then whisk in cornflour until smooth.
While whisking, carefully pour in about ½ cup of milk mixture. Once mixed in, slowly pour in remaining milk while whisking. Once incorporated and smooth, pour back into saucepan.
Return saucepan to stove over low heat. Whisk constantly until it becomes thick and custardy – this will happen quite quickly, about 45 seconds (ie it is liquidy when you start, then suddenly it thickens). Once thickened, remove immediately from heat – it will continue to thicken.
Pour into a bowl and cover with cling wrap, pressing onto surface. Leave on the counter until the trifle is ready to layer with custard. Makes 750ml.
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