How to Cook English Trifle

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 35 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients needed to make English trifle:

For the custard:

• 5 fl oz milk
• 6 large egg yolks
• 50 gm fine sugar
• 8 1.2 fl oz heavy cream
• 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scrapped off

For the trifle:

• 10 oz sponge cake, halved and thickly sliced
• 6 tbsp sweet sherry
• 2 cups prepared custard
• 10 oz fresh raspberries or strawberries
• 2 cups whipping cream, softly whipped
• Handful of almond flakes, toasted

Cooking instructions for English trifle:

• To make the custard, pour milk into a heavy saucepan and stir in the heavy cream.
• Add a tsp of sugar and heat the mixture until it begins to simmer gently.
• Lower the heat at this point and continue to heat the mixture at slowest flame.
• Meanwhile, beat the rest of sugar for the custard into the egg yolks, with a hand whisk, until the mixture becomes light and pale yellow in colour.
• Pour the warm milk into the sweetened egg mixture in a steady stream while you continue to whisk the mixture with your other hand.
• Pass the mixture through a fine wire mesh strainer and return it to the sauce pan.
• Stir in the scrapping of the vanilla and heat over low flame while stirring continuously until the custard becomes much thicker. Carry out this step very slowly and don’t rush to avoid the mixture from burning or curdling.
• Remove from heat and strain it again through a fine sieve into a bowl and set aside.
• To make the trifle, arrange the cake slices into the bottom of a large glass dish. You can also arrange the trifle in individual serving glasses.
• Slice the berries into semi-thick pieces and spread them in a single layer over the cake; reserve a few for using them as embellishments.
• Press the berries gently with a form to squeeze out their juices and spread a bout of sherry on top.
• Add dollops of the custard onto the berry layer and spread them evenly into a thick layer with a spatula.
• Top it up with a layer of whipped cream and spoon the leftover cream into a piping bag.
• Pipe the cream on the surface of the trifle and place the berry slices alternately to decorate it.
• Sprinkle the toasted almond flakes over them and serve chilled.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons