Description
A festive and colorful Christmas Trifle recipe featuring layers of Madeira cake, homemade cranberry jelly, fresh berries, thick custard, and whipped cream. This classic dessert combines tangy cranberry jelly with sweet custard and fresh strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries for a truly delightful holiday treat.
Ingredients
Scale
Cake and Liquor Layer
- 450 g Madeira cake or Pound cake (store bought)
- 1/3 cup orange or fruit flavored liquor (like Cointreau), or apple/orange juice or 2 tbsp brandy
Cranberry Jelly
- 7 tsp gelatine powder
- 6 cups cranberry juice (original, with sugar)
Fruits
- 500 – 750 g strawberries, halved
- 1 punnet blueberries
- 1 punnet raspberries
Cream
- 2 1/2 cups heavy / thickened cream (or pure whipping cream)
- 3 tbsp white sugar (caster sugar ok)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Homemade Thick Custard
- 3 cups milk (full or low fat)
- 1/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar), extra
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup cornflour / cornstarch
Instructions
- Prepare Cake Layer: Cut the cake into 2 cm cubes. Place them to cover the bottom of a 3.5 L trifle dish and sprinkle with the orange or fruit-flavored liquor or juice.
- Add Optional Strawberries: Scatter half a punnet of halved strawberries over the cake layer for extra fruit flavor.
- Heat Cranberry Juice: Pour half the cranberry juice (3 cups) into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat once simmering.
- Dissolve Gelatine: Pour the remaining room temperature cranberry juice into a large bowl, sprinkle gelatine evenly across the surface, and whisk until mostly dissolved.
- Combine Hot Juice with Gelatine: Slowly pour the hot cranberry juice into the gelatine mixture while whisking until the gelatine is fully dissolved.
- First Jelly Layer: Carefully pour half of the warm jelly liquid down the side of the trifle dish so the cake is submerged. Refrigerate uncovered for 1 1/2 hours until partially set but still soft enough to hold a strawberry on top.
- Set Aside Remaining Jelly: Pour the remaining jelly into a bowl and leave at room temperature; do not refrigerate.
- Make Custard: While jelly is setting, prepare the custard as per instructions below and have it ready at room temperature.
- Apply Custard Layer: Remove trifle from fridge and whisk custard to loosen. Spoon custard gently over jelly, smoothing surface and pressing against glass to seal edges. Refrigerate uncovered for 1 hour until surface firms slightly.
- Partially Set Remaining Jelly: Whisk the remaining jelly well and put it in the fridge for about 1 hour to thicken but not fully set. Check after 30 minutes to ensure it remains spoonable.
- Second Jelly Layer: Remove trifle and jelly from fridge. Spoon the thickened but sloppy jelly over custard layer smoothly. Scatter one punnet of halved strawberries or half punnet raspberries and strawberries. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 48 hours before assembling final layers.
- Prepare Whipped Cream: Beat cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until softly whipped.
- Assemble Final Layers: Once jelly is fully set, top trifle with whipped cream and pile remaining berries on top. Dust with icing sugar for decoration.
- Serve: Ensure each serving includes all layers of cake, jelly, custard, cream, and berries for the full trifle experience.
- Make Homemade Custard: Heat milk, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan until simmering (do not boil). In a bowl, whisk egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and cornflour until smooth. Slowly temper egg mixture by whisking in about 1/2 cup hot milk, then combine all back in saucepan. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until custard thickens (about 45 seconds). Remove from heat, pour into bowl, cover surface with cling wrap, and cool to room temperature.
Notes
- Any cake will work fine, but Madeira and Pound cake are ideal and readily available. Christmas Cake gives a darker color but works well too.
- Use cranberry juice with added sugar, like Ocean Spray Cranberry Classic, to ensure the jelly is sweet.
- If using unsweetened juice, dissolve 1/2 cup white sugar in heated juice before making jelly.
- Gelatine powder used is approximately 21 g total (7 tsp) which equals about 3 sachets Knox gelatin or similar brands.
- Store-bought double thick custard can be used to save time; add vanilla extract to freshen flavor.
- Vanilla bean paste adds specks and a richer vanilla flavor but extract can be substituted.
- To achieve neat jelly layers, pour first jelly layer liquid; spoon second jelly layer when partially set to avoid breaking custard layer.
- Custard should be mostly cooled but not fully set before assembling to spread easily; if it sets too firm, whisk before layering again.
- Leftover egg whites can be saved for other recipes such as meringues or angel food cake.
Nutrition
- Calories: 450 kcal
- Sugar: 45 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 11 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5 g
- Trans Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 65 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Cholesterol: 150 mg
