Puddings & Desserts · England-wide

Proper English Trifle

Name: Proper English Trifle
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 1 trifle sponge or Madeira cake, sliced; 150ml medium sherry; 4 tbsp raspberry jam; 400g raspberries (or tinned fruit, for the purists’ controversy); Custard: 600ml milk, 5 yolks, 60g sugar, 1 tbsp cornflour, 1 tsp vanilla; 300ml double cream, whipped; flaked almonds and a cherry, to finish

Sherry-soaked sponge, fruit, custard and cream in a glass bowl — the towering architecture of every British celebration since your grandmother’s grandmother.

Prep: 40 min
Cook: 15 min
Total: 55 min
Yield: Serves 8
Difficulty: Moderate
Era: Georgian

Ingredients

1 trifle sponge or Madeira cake, sliced
150ml medium sherry
4 tbsp raspberry jam; 400g raspberries (or tinned fruit, for the purists’ controversy)
Custard: 600ml milk, 5 yolks, 60g sugar, 1 tbsp cornflour, 1 tsp vanilla
300ml double cream, whipped; flaked almonds and a cherry, to finish

Method

Spread the sponge with jam, layer into the bowl and soak evenly with sherry. Rest 30 minutes.
Scatter over the fruit.
Make a proper pouring custard, cool it with a cartouche to prevent a skin, then pour over the fruit. Chill until set.
Pile on the whipped cream in billows.
Finish with toasted almonds and the cherry. Chill 4 hours — a trifle must know itself before serving.

Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.