It's a Trifle to make

Christmas Trifle

​This Christmas Trifle is the perfect combination of fresh berries, jelly and cream. And it is so simple to make!

Ingredients

• 1 x 450g / 14 oz Madeira cake or Pound cake store bought (Note 1)
• 85 ml orange or other fruit flavoured liquor (like Cointreau), or apple, orange or other fruit juice (or 2 tbsp brandy)
• 21 g gelatine powder (Note 2)
• 1.5 litres Cranberry juice, original (ie WITH sugar added, not No Added Sugar, Note 2)
• 2 – 3 punnets strawberries, halved
• 1 each punnet blueberries, raspberries

CREAM:

• 625 ml heavy / thickened cream (or pure whipping cream)
• 50 g white sugar (caster sugar ok)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

HOMEMADE THICK CUSTARD (OR 900G 1 TUB PAULS DOUBLE THICK VANILLA CUSTARD):

• 750 ml milk (full or low fat)
• 50 g caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract) (Note 4)
• 50 g caster sugar (superfine sugar), extra
• 4 egg yolks
• 80 g cornflour / corn starch

Instructions

• 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. 
• Optional extra: Scatter over 1/2 to 1 punnet halved strawberries (this is not in ingredients list).

CRANBERRY JELLY:

• Put half the cranberry juice into a saucepan over medium heat (3 cups / 750ml). Bring to a simmer, then turn off stove.
• Meanwhile, put remaining room temperature cranberry juice into a bowl. Sprinkle gelatine all across surface (don't dump in one place). Whisk until mostly dissolved.
• Pour in hot cranberry juice. Whisk until gelatin is fully dissolved. Proceed with 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 on the counter (do not refrigerate).
• Meanwhile, make the custard (see below).

CUSTARD LAYER:

• Remove trifle from fridge. Spoon over the custard, smooth surface, press on glass to seal (stops jelly bleed). Refrigerate for 1 hour until surface has firmed up a bit – just enough to hold the jelly (jelly is soft so custard doesn’t need to be fully set). 
• Put remaining jelly in the fridge at the same time (to thicken a bit, but not too much, see video, so you get a neat, clear layer of jelly – read Note 5). CHECK jelly at 30 minutes, just to ensure it's not setting too fast.

JELLY LAYER 2:

• Remove trifle and jelly from fridge. Jelly should be sloppy. Carefully spoon over jelly, smooth surface. Scatter over 1 punnet halved strawberries (or half each raspberries and strawberries). Refrigerate for 3 hours+ (can leave in 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 trifle is ready to layer with custard. Makes 750ml. (Note 5)