Their European headquarter was located in the London suburbs. Also, my brother and his family lived in London for 12 years in the s. Although I visited London quite often, I always ended up eating Indian food over there. They definitely have some of the best Indian restaurants in the world. I was never attracted to British cuisine, but there is one dessert I have fond memories of. This dessert is trifle! In a nutshell, it is egg custard poured over sponge cake soaked in fruit and sherry and topped with whipped cream.
In the American South , it became popular among the plantation owners and was often called Tipsy Cake or Tipsy Parson. Buxton Pudding and Tipsy Hedgehog , a Victorian version with almonds used for the spines, are also famous variations of the same dessert.
Tipsy Laird is the Scottish version in which the cake is soaked in Drambuie or Whisky. Trifle is traditionally made with Savoy cake, usually stale, which allows the cake to absorb more of the liquid. Some recipes, like the one I am proposing, make use of Savoy biscuits called Savoiardi , the Italian version of ladyfinger biscuits.
Trifle historically evolved from an old British dessert called fruit fool or foole , which only included sweet custard and pureed fruit, originally gooseberry. Another British ancestor of the trifle is the syllabub , which was milk or cream, curdled by an alcohol such as wine or cider. Trifle is at the origin of zuppa Inglese English soup , the popular custard dessert introduced in Italy in the late 19th century in which Italian liquor Alchermes replaces Sherry and Brandy.
There is not one recipe for trifle but thousands. Every country and region added its own touch. Food writers Helen Saberi and Alan Davidson wrote up the history of this dessert in in a book called Trifle! Despite the thousands of recipes for this sweet traditional dessert, there are still some common guidelines to follow: Cake: you can use sponge cake, Savoiardi biscuits, Savoy cake, Madeira cake named after Madeira wine Liquor: typically Sherry or Brandy, but also white wine or rum or liqueurs like Grand Marnier or Amaretto Jelly: some people add jelly but this is optional.
There is much debate about the use of jelly but we will try to stay away from the controversy today… Fruits: fresh, pureed fruits or compote can be used. Custard: homemade custard is used for festive occasions. I will definitely try it out and post my impressions in the next few weeks. Whipped cream: it can sometimes be enriched with beaten egg whites like in my recipe Toppings: you can go crazy but the typical toppings include crushed Amaretti cookies , toasted nuts, candied fruits and shaved chocolate.
I used famous French biscuits Gavottes and toasted almonds for my recipe. Trifle bowl: this bowl has become the emblematic container of the traditional sweet British dessert. I spent almost 2 weeks in Paris last month and I brought back a number of goodies from there. Among those goodies were a lot of French cheeses. And since my friends know me so well, I had to organize a cheesy party to celebrate me getting over the hill as I turned 41… although some would say I am already over the hill… On the menu were cheeses, artisan breads, salads and… this trifle!
This trifle was definitely a hit if you can judge by the fact that it was finished in less than 15 minutes… or maybe some of my friends who hate cheese could not wait for the dessert.
Either way, I can tell you that it was delicious. Pour or brush some alcohol over the cake layer. Basically any alcohol is okay but it is best if the one used complements the other flavors in the trifle. The amount of alcohol is dependent on how much liquid the cake will absorb and how strong an alcohol taste you want. Cakes that are a few days old will absorb more alcohol than a freshly-made cake. At this point, some people also add a jelly jello in USA , either cold but not set or just beginning to set.
The flavor should complement the flavor of the fruits used. Next comes the fruit layer. Here again you have choices. You can use cut up fruit like berries, peaches, pears, kiwi , a puree raspberry, strawberry, blackberry , jam or preserves, or a combination of these. If you are using fresh fruit it is nice to have a layer of like-flavored jelly or puree to intensify the fruit flavor.
Next comes the custard layer. The classic English trifle usually contains custard followed by a layer of whipped cream. You can use home-made custard made with eggs, or custard made with a custard powder and boiled milk.
Then comes whipped cream on top, and the finishing touch is to decorate the trifle with toppings such as fruit, crushed Amaretti cookies, toasted nuts, candied fruits, shaved chocolate. The size of your trifle bowl and the thickness of the layers will determine whether you need a second layer of the ingredients to fill the bowl.
Cover the assembled trifle and place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours to allow the flavors to mingle. Some say that traditional trifles do not contain jelly. They are light, simple affairs hence their name. Nearly all classic British desserts Serious Eats has a great guide to them are rarely eaten, if at all, in the United States.
The most common reference for trifle is an episode of Friends. Essentially, an English trifle needs sponge fingers or pound cake, perhaps soaked in sherry—but this is optional only if children are not involved.
It also needs jelly aka Jell-O in the U. The rest is all about personal preference. We would suggest you sandwich pairs of savoiardi together with jam, if required by the recipe, rather than trying to split them lengthways and then sandwich them back together. The other alternative is to use a fairly dense, plain loaf cake, such as a Madiera cake or pound cake, or a plain Victoria sponge cake.
Sherry is traditional in a British trifle and it needs to be a sweet cream shery, rather than a dry sherry. If you have children eating the trifle then fresh orange juice or fresh clementine juice are good non-alcoholic alternatives to the sherry and are also usually juices that children like. You can absolutely make trifle the day before. We recommend serving anytime between 4 and 24 hours after the trifle is made. However, for the best presentation, hold off on adding the top whipped cream layer until just before serving.
Storage: Leftover trifle can be stored, loosely covered in the fridge, for up to 3 days, after which it will still be edible but the cake will be very soggy and the pudding will become looser, soaking up the whipped cream and syrup. I was actually born in England but came to the states when I was just 2 years old.
This photo was taken shortly after we arrived in the states back in Two of the children in the photo above were our new friends, the girl in the pink coat and the boy with the red hat. The one-pan dessert is ideal for all occasions including potlucks, holidays, barbecues and birthdays. Several of these desserts do not require baking making them perfect for summer.
See ALL my cookbooks here! I am in the white coat, my older brother is next to me in the brown coat, and my beautiful mom, God rest her soul, is holding my little brother Michael. Another reason that the trifle has been adapted is simply out of necessity. But it can be difficult to find in many American grocery stores, so people have switched to using what is readily available to them.
I really do love pudding, but for this dessert, I insist on using custard. I savor it. You can use a purchased cake for this trifle. Most English cooks use a Madeira cake , which is similar to a pound cake in America and was named after the wine that often accompanied it.
You will want to make the cake and the custard first. Obviously, if you are using a packaged pound cake or ladyfingers, then start with the custard. If you are making a box cake or cake from scratch, be sure to bake that up first.
Both the cake and the custard will need to cool before assembling the trifle. Most of it is because of the homemade custard. Browse all the dessert recipes here. Simply scroll back up to read them! Can I make this the day ahead, covered with plastic wrap and stored in the fridge overnight. I have so much to prep tomorrow so I am trying to find some time savers.
My question is, should you make the cake a day or two early to let it dry out some? This just about matches my English friend who gave me her recipe. Oh, I need a suggestion for making it non-alcoholic. I know that will keep it from being a true British Trifle but close enough. Thank you. Seemed like there was way too much cake in proportion to other ingredients and trifle bowl.
There was too much cake for a good sherry coverage and even though I melted the jam I had to use double. This was my first trifle. Look forward to making the other versions. Where did you get the fun serving spoon? So you need 20 fl oz of milk not Your dear grandmother would have learned how to economize her trifle ingredients during the war years and after because food was still rationed. Hence the corn starch and jello, etc. This is how they would stretch their food budget.
Prior to the war years only pure natural ingredients were used.
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