Not just a trifle

I'm not sure how I've reached my thirties without having made a trifle before now. The only excuses I can offer are that (1) I usually cook for two, and trifle seems rather extravagant and labour-intensive for two, and (2) I always think of trifle as containing jelly, and I'm not really into desserts derived from boiled pigs' feet.

I've now put right my omission, thanks in part to Delia, whose recipe made me realise that you don't need jelly at all. It always featured in my childhood versions (usually made by my gran) but quite a lot of trifle recipes omit the jelly. I think it's a more adult dish without, which seems quite appropriate given that it usually features lashings of sherry.


I was pleased with the result - it looked impressive on the table, and tasted pretty good. My gran, whose favourite dessert this is, seemed to enjoy it too.

Trifle is a great English dessert, which has been with us for hundreds of years, originally devised as an inventive way to use up stale cake. As with a bread and butter pudding, it works better if your cake isn't too fresh, because you don't want it to disintegrate into mush. These days you can buy trifle sponges, but I must confess I bought an extremely cheap basic sponge cake with a jam filling (thus saving me from having to buy jam to spread on the cake, as Delia suggests, although I'm not convinced jam is vital anyway).

In cookery writer Hannah Glasse's time, in 1751, the trifle contained no fruit but plenty of decoration: "You may garnish it with ratafia cakes, currant jelly, and flowers, and strew different coloured nonpareils over it", wrote Hannah. I like some flaked toasted almonds scattered over the top, which give a nice crunch as well as some flavour, but there's no reason not to go mad with the hundreds and thousands if you want.

I must disagree with Nigel Slater, who some years ago wrote: "You can use that cut-glass thing Auntie Connie gave you if you must, but the trifle looks far more elegant in a plain white china bowl." Isn't this the only time you're ever going to use the cut-glass bowl lurking at the back of the cupboard? And I think glass is nicer than china, so you can see the layers. Something with fairly straight sides is best, so you can get an even distribution of layers even at the edge of the bowl.

There are endless variations of trifle - you can use whatever fruit you want, though steer away from pineapple, kiwi or papaya if you are using jelly. You can do a tropical fruit trifle or even a chocolate and banana trifle. I've had trifle made with tinned fruit, but I think it should feel like an extravagant dish, so fresh fruit is much better. Raspberries are my favourite - they have the right strength of flavour to stand up to all the creaminess. Some sliced banana in there as well is by no means a bad thing.

I think decent custard is the backbone of a trifle, so I made my own (this also helped me feel I was cooking something, rather than just doing an assembly job). But you could buy some of the fresh chilled custard that comes in plastic pots if you want, as long as it is good-quality. Don't even think about using whipped cream from a can, or Elmlea. But you wouldn't, would you?

Have you got a favourite trifle recipe? Do you like jelly or no jelly? I'd be interested to hear from you (use the comments form below).

Ingredients

1 small sponge cake or Madeira cake
2 oz (50 g) flaked almonds, lightly toasted
A small glass sherry (exact amount depends on how boozy you like your trifle)
2 punnets raspberries
2 small bananas, peeled and sliced
1/2 pint (285 ml) double or whipping cream

For the custard:  (You can substitude 1 pint good-quality bought custard if necessary)
3 egg yolks
1/2 pint (285 ml) double cream
1 oz (25 g) sugar
1 level teaspoon cornflour
1 vanilla pod

Method

Break the cake into pieces and place in the bottom of your serving dish. Sprinkle the sherry over it. Leave to soak while you make the custard.

Heat ½ pint (275 ml) of the double cream in a small saucepan. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the tiny black seeds: add them to the custard along with the pod.

Mix the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together and add to the hot cream, stirring the whole time. Heat gently, still stirring, until thick, then allow to cool. (If in a hurry, you can cool it by putting the pan in a sink of cold water.)

Scatter the sliced bananas and most of the raspberries over the sherry-soaked cake. (Keep back some of the nicest-looking raspberries to decorate.) Pour the cooled custard on top.

Whip up the remaining double or whipping cream and spread it over the top. Decorate with the flaked almonds. You can eat it straight away, or chill for a few hours first.