A Birthday Trifle

 

It is my eldest son’s birthday today (he turns 47) – his daughter is cooking us all dinner to celebrate, and I was asked to make a trifle for dessert.

I know there are several different ways of making trifle, but this is the way I make it, and is also the way my mother made it.

I use a small slab of sponge-roll cake from the supermarket and break it into chunks in a crystal bowl (actually, any bowl will do).

Then ¼ cup raspberry jam is mixed with ¼ cup port and poured evenly over the sponge.

(I might have overdone the quantities here a bit - I was guessing!)

The custard is made next. 

Whisk up 2 cups milk, 2 eggs, 2 heaped tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch), ¼ cup white sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence.

Pour into a saucepan and stir constantly over a medium heat until it has thickened.  Sometimes it gets away on me and becomes lumpy so I give it a good whisk to make it smooth again (remember, I am a home cook not a cordon bleu chef!).

Pour the hot custard over the sponge and use a blunt knife to help the custard seep down between the sponge pieces.  I like to have the sponge reasonably well covered with custard so that no large dry pieces are visible on the top or down the sides.

Leave the trifle to cool, then decorate as desired.  We will most likely have ours tonight with whipped cream and some fruit salad on the side.

I think granddaughter intends to make steak with a fancy potato dish and a salad.  Should be nice 😊

Margaret.