Trifle

Name: Trifle
Yield: Serves 6–8
Ingredients: 100 ml/3½ fl oz/generous ⅓ cup jam (jelly), such as strawberry, raspberry or peach; 1 tbsp icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar); 100 g/3½ oz leftover sponge cake (any of the sponge recipes in this book will do, though the Savoy cake is particularly good); 55 g/2 oz/¼ cup caster sugar; 2 vanilla pods, split; 6 leaves gelatine (or 2 tbsp powdered gelatine), soaked in cold water; 115 ml/4 fl oz/½ cup sherry, port or another fortified spirit; 570 ml/1 pt/2⅓ cups whipping cream; 4 egg yolks; 170 ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup double cream; 85 g/3 oz/½ cup crystallised ginger, cubed; 100 g/3½ oz ratafia biscuits or macaroons (for Mrs Crocombe’s take, see Mackronis); 55 ml/2 fl oz/¼ cup brandy; 100 g/3½ oz/1 cup ground almonds; 170 ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup milk

Preparation info

Serves
6–8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

How to Cook The Victorian Way with Mrs Crocombe

By Annie Gray and Andrew Hann

Published 2020

About

A trifle is a thing of no consequence, and how it also came to be the name of one of Britain’s most beloved dishes is the cause of some debate. Early trifles were more like fools (puréed fruit mixed with sweetened cream), and it took about 250 years for them to develop into the layered mixture of cake, fruit, custard and cream that usually forms the basis of the modern dish. The late 19th century was a sort of heyday for them, and Avis Crocombe would certainly have had a fe