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and how to make it!

Lots of people have lots of different ideas about how to make trifle, just like everybody’s apple pie is a little different, but for some people the topic of trifle making can get quite heated. The question is . . . should a traditional English trifle involve jelly? There, I’ve said it, are you one of the “you can’t make a trifle without jelly” brigade or one of the “actually, traditional English trifles don’t have jelly at all”.  Personally, I prefer my trifle to be “jelly free” although I was brought up on trifle which included jelly . . .

Ingredients for the Perfect Trifle

1. Right, with or without jelly, what else is involved? Well, you need a nice spongey base of course, sponge cake (even if it’s a bit hard) or those ratafia biscuits do a good job. Alternatively you can go straight for the jam rolls (cuts out a whole operation).
2. Sherry – it’s called sherry trifle right. You are advised to regulate the amount of sherry you add to the trifle depending on who’s going to be eating it. It does add a lovely flavor but isn’t really advisable (or suitable) for babies and children. Ah, what the hell, give them icecream . . .
3. Fruit of some kind. Of course, this depends on your personal taste, what’s in season, what’s going soft in the bottom of the refrigerator or what cans you happen to have in the kitchen cabinet. A can of fruit cocktail does the trick perfectly, but so do mandarins (including juice), fresh raspberries or whatever else floats your boat.
4. Custard. You can’t make a traditional English trifle without dollops of custard, one essential ingredient. You’ll probably need it a little thicker than the stuff you make to pour over your apple pie (otherwise it can all end up rather sloppy) but if you make it so thick that the serving spoon stands up in it . . . that’s not good either.
5. Cream . . . lashings and lashings of whipped cream to top it off.
6. Sprinkles . . . there are alternatives, but candy sprinkles are definitely my favorite . . . however, they are not without problems. If, for some strange reason, the whole trifle isn’t polished off within hours of it being thrown together (I mean assembled) then the dye can run out into the cream. Anyway, alternatives include grated or flaked chocolate, little silver balls that you can use to decorate cakes, candy fruit slices or, another favorite of mine, chopped or flaked nuts. Wow, who’d have thought that there were so many choices out there.

Putting It All Together

1. The first thing you need to do is to break or cut the sponge fingers or cake, spread with jam and place a layer in the bottom of a rather nice cut glass bowl (the type your Grandmother bought you for a wedding present and you only ever use at Christmas). A cut glass (or crystal depending on how posh you are) bowl really set off a trifle nicely. Right, have you got a nice even layer? Good . . .
2. Next you can add a little sherry (if appropriate) or fruit juice (if not). Just moisten it a bit, there’s more juicy stuff to come.
3. Then you place the fruit on top. If you’re using canned fruit you can use the juice (or some of it) for step 2. Try and get it levelish, there’s nothing worse than ending up with a dish of trifle without fruit, and some lucky blighter getting all of your fruity bits.
4. It’s at this point that the “to jelly or not to jelly” decision has to be made. If you want to add jelly, do it now!
5. Top with custard. Of course, you should let your custard cool down a little (we’ve already spoken about the consistency of it), don’t use boiling hot custard because that’ll just sink into the sponge and that is not what we’re after here . . . but don’t let it go completely cold because then it won’t run and set neatly in position.
6. When the custard is completely cold and set, then you can add the whipped cream on top. Some people like to try to make it smooth, some use an icing bag to place “blobs” in a pattern, others go for the “all over choppy” look (easier), it just depends on the consistency of your cream.
7. Chill, then sprinkle just before serving. (Remember that the coloring does run out of the sprinkles and into the cream).

The Perfect Trifle . . . making a perfect trifle is not an exact science, it takes time, practice and a whole lot of luck. Actually, come to think of it none of my cookery is an exact science, that’s because I do things for luck . . . you know how it is, the recipe says 2 cups but I don’t think it’s enough to add a bit more “for luck”, it’s supposed to take 15 minutes but I add another 5 minutes “for luck”, surely one teaspoon of spice isn’t enough, let’s add a bit more “for luck”. Yes, I’m sure that I’m not alone, anyway, good luck with your trifle making. I’ve added a couple of videos knowing full well that their perfect trifles are not the same as mine, but making trifle is a very personal thing.

This one’s a bit different, but hey, it’s still trifle. Chocolate pudding?????