Authentic and Traditional English Trifle Recipe – A quintessential pudding. Dessert lover? What will be your favourite dessert? Now tell me if the same dessert is loved by whole family, including kids? Trifle is one such dessert which ticks all the boxes when it comes to great taste, and love by all family members.
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What is Trifle
A trifle is a layered dessert which contains custard, cake, fruits, jelly and whipped cream. Recipe of trifle can vary from person to person on how they make, but the basic elements remain the same. Trifle is sponge cake layered together with custard, whipped cream, jelly and fruit. Original version of this english trifle recipe hails from Scotland which includes soaking of sponge cake in sherry / wine, but these days it can be skipped by using simple fruit juice. This is the quintessential pudding which has been into existence for a few centuries.
I got introduced to the basic version of it first time in UK at one of my friends place, which included plain custard, vanilla sponge cake and cream topped with fresh strawberries. Then I started making it with my little bit of research for trying different variations in it.
Method
- In a bowl, empty the packet of Mango flavoured jelly crystals. You can use other flavour jelly.
- Pour 1 cup boiling water over jelly crystals. Mix well to dissolve all the crystals. Keep this aside.
- Now take a bowl, drain the water from the fruit cocktail and put the drained fruits in the trifle bowl, subsequently, pour the jelly water over fruits in the bowl. Now keep it in the fridge for sometime till its completely set, which should take around 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile lets prepare our cream, while the jelly sets. For doing this, empty the cream into a separate bowl and beat it on high speed for 5 minutes with the help of electric beater. Now add powdered sugar and vanilla essence and beat again till it forms soft peaks. Keep this in fridge.
- Cut swiss roll into not so thin pieces and arrange them in the trifle bowl over the jelly.
- Pour the custard over this layer and spread it evenly all around the bowl, to make the middle layer.
- Now spread some sliced strawberries and grapes over custard.
- Now, spread the beaten cream evenly on top and spread all over. Garnish the top with sliced strawberries, grapes halves, and pomegranate seeds. Trifle is ready. Keep it in the fridge until the time of serving. Serve chilled and enjoy.
FAQs about Trifle
Making in advance? Yes, you can make it day in advance and keep it refrigerated. In my view do not make trifle more than 2 days in advance, fresh trifle is always best.
My cream topping on trifle sinks, how can I prevent cream from sinking? Add cream just before serving, secondly, add small quantity of corn flour to the custard to make custard thick and that custard will give strong base for cream to avoid cream sinking, lastly use good quality cream.
Can I freeze trifle? Yes, you can (though I am personally not fan of frozen food). To freeze put the whole or portion of it in a plastic wrap and then put that plastic wrap inside resealable freezer bag.
Is jelly required for trifle or can I keep it optional? If you making it for kids, Jelly will be more appealing to kids, alternatively, you can use sherry (for adults)
Layers in trifle
The layers are made from Jelly, fruits, sponge cake, fruits and fresh cream. You can go for multiple layers, however 3 layers is minimum for a good trifle.
This recipe of trifle is the best one among the versions I make, and which is always a hit in parties/ get togethers and loved by everyone. Here in this recipe, I have tried three different flavours for three layers. Its entirely your choice to play around the flavours depending on your taste buds and creativity 🙂
This recipe is absolutely easy to make and don’t take much time and can be a fabulous option for dessert when you don’t want to go for hot desserts. In this recipe, I will share the ingredients that I use, its entirely your choice to cook things from scratch like custard, sponge cake but if you are running short of time or just want to make quick, you can use everything market bought.
This Traditional English Trifle Recipe Is
- Easy to make
- Loved by kids and adults
- Part of authentic British cuisine
- Tastes brilliant, especially on a summer day
If you looking for dessert ideas, you may like to check orange pistachio cake, Blackberry chocolate cake or Australian pavlova dessert.
Recipe Card
Easy English Trifle
Ingredients
- 80 Grams Mango Flavoured Jelly Crystals
- 415 Grams Fruit Cocktail
- 200 Grams Swiss Roll Raspberry Flavour (1 Small Packet)
- 500 Grams Custard Vanilla Flavour
- 300 ML Fresh Whipping Cream
- 2 Tablespoon Powdered Sugar
- 300 Grams Strawberry Evenly Sliced
- 1/2 Cup Grapes Cut Into Halves
- 2 Tablespoon Pomegranate Seeds
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
Instructions
- In a bowl, empty the packet of Mango flavoured jelly crystals.
- Pour 1cup boiling water over jelly crystals. Mix well till all the crystals are dissolved and keep aside.
- Now take a trifle bowl, or a plain bowl in which you planning to make trifle. Drain the water from the fruit cocktail and put the drained fruits in the trifle bowl.
- Now pour the jelly water over fruits in the bowl. Now keep it in the fridge for sometime till its completely set, which should take around 20 minutes. Now the base layer of trifle is done.
- Meanwhile lets prepare our cream, while the jelly sets. For doing this, empty the cream into a separate bowl and beat it on high speed for 5 minutes with the help of electric beater. Now add powdered sugar and vanilla essence and beat again till it forms soft peaks. Keep this in fridge.
- Cut swiss roll into not so thin pieces and arrange them in the trifle bowl over the jelly as shown in picture.
- Pour the custard over this layer and spread it evenly all around the bowl, to make the middle layer.
- Now spread some sliced strawberries and grapes over custard.
- Now, spread the beaten cream evenly on top and spread all over. Garnish the top with sliced strawberries, grapes halves, and pomegranate seeds. Trifle is ready. Keep it in the fridge until the time of serving. Serve chilled and enjoy.
Notes
- You can use basic sponge cake instead of swiss roll. If you using it, please pour 2-3 tablespoon of fruit juice over it to make it little moist. I find swiss roll to be the best as its already little moist and comes with different flavours. You can use other flavours of swiss roll like strawberry depending on your tastebuds and availability.
- You can also use pancakes in case you do not have sponge cake either.
- Similarly, you can use other flavours of jelly like strawberry and raspberry. For fruit cocktail, you can easily skip it if you want to use fresh fruits instead.
- For custard, I have used readymade one, but you can make it at home too. Similarly, for cream you can use readymade version (one which is ready to pour).
- You may like to add other fruits and nuts of your choice.
- Jelly in UK is referred as Gelatin. Steps 1 and 2 explain how to set Jelly from Gelatin.