Christmas trifle
This time of year is all about its traditions, and the joy of bringing loved ones together. Gather your loved ones and assemble this festive treat for your Christmas table.
You will need two 20cm cake tins plus a jelly mould with a base of 20cm.
for cake
2 free-range eggs
110g caster sugar
110g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
110 groom temperature butter
raspberry jam
flaked natural almonds
Preheat the oven to 160C with fan. Grease and line 20cm round cake tin. Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, flour, baking powder and butter. Mix together until well combined with an electric hand mixer.
Use a spatula to move all of the mixture from the bowl into the tin and gently smooth the surface of the cake.
Bake the cake on the middle shelf of the oven for 20 minutes before checking: the cake should be golden and just coming away from the edge of the tin. It should be springy to touch.
Set aside to cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edge of the tin and carefully turn the cake out onto a cooling rack.
Place cake upside down onto a plate and spread the top and side with plenty of jam. Pat on the flaked almonds around the edge.
for vanilla marshmallow
2 sheets gold quality unflavoured gelatine
60ml cold water, plus extra 60ml
180g caster sugar
125ml glucose
pinch salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1egg white
15g icing sugar
15g cornflour
Lightly grease a 20cm cake tin. Combine the icing sugar and cornflour in a bowl and then completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan, reserving a little for the top. Set aside.
Have all ingredients and equipment weighed out and ready, as you need to work fast. Soak the gelatine in the bowl of a stand mixer with 60ml water.
Combine the remaining water, sugar, glucose and salt in a small saucepan.
Using a sugar thermometer, allow the mixture to reach 115C. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.
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Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl onto the gelatine and water mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is cold, it should become three times the volume. Add the vanilla. This will take 10-15 minutes of continuous beating.
Whip the egg white until soft peaks form and fold into the marshmallow mixture. Pour it into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornflour mixture to lightly cover. Allow the marshmallow to set for at least 4 hours or overnight.
for fruit jelly
6 sheets gelatine
500ml apple and cherry juice
100g red grapes, cut in half, pips removed (replace with pitted and halved cherries when available)
1 punnet strawberries, hulled and cut in half
1 punnet raspberries
1 punnet blueberries
Break up the gelatine and soak in cold water for 5 minutes. In the meantime, gently heat half the juice. Squeeze the gelatine sheets and add to the warm juice off the heat. Stir until completely dissolved, add the remaining juice.
Pour a little of the jelly into the jelly mould and twirl it around to wet the entire surface. Put in the fridge for 15 minutes or so.
Mix all the berries together and put into the prepared jelly mould. Pour over the remaining jelly mixture and leave to set in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
To assemble, put the sponge cake on a cake stand, carefully upend the marshmallow disc and finally dip the jelly in a basin of hot water briefly and place on top of the marshmallow.
While all the components of the ‘trifle’ can be made up to 2 days in advance, assemble it close to serving time.
This recipe first appeared in the November 2024 issue of SALIFE magazine.
