Every year on Boxing Day my family and I would go and visit my Grandma and she would always put on an amazing spread. Her dining table would be crammed with Christmas goodies both sweet and savoury – pigs in blankets, chicken drumsticks, gingerbread cookies; the lot. The centrepiece of this festive table would be a huge sherry trifle glistening with shiny glace cherries. Ever since then I have associated this creamy, spongy, custardy, fruity delight with the Christmas period and sharing quality time with the family. The only difference between this sherry trifle recipe and my Grandma’s is that it serves 4-6 instead of a whole army!
This is not a difficult recipe are perfect for cooks who are not great at the presentation side of things. It is essentially a bit of a messy dessert anyway so people are not going to be overly concerned with how it looks. Plus, the creamy topping covered in glace cherries can cover a multitude of sins.
If you are thinking about making this but would like the whole family, including the kids, to enjoy it simply leave out the sherry. You will still be left with a delicious fruity trifle. I would definitely feel something was missing from my Christmas holidays without my sherry trifle and making it every year is one thing guaranteed to get me feeling festive!
Serves 4-6
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/32088216069095470/
Ingredients:
- 100g trifle sponges
- 150ml raspberry jam
- 150ml sherry
- 150g fresh or frozen raspberries
- 350g sliced fresh strawberries
- 6 egg yolks
- 50g caster sugar (+ 2 tbsps for topping)
- 500ml milk
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 300ml double cream
- 10 glace cherries, halved
- Spread the jam onto the sponges and then cut them into small cubes. Arrange these cubes in the bottom of a glass serving bowl.
- Pour the sherry over the sponge and leave to soak in for 30 minutes.
- Mix the raspberries and strawberries together and spoon over the sponge.
- To make the custard, whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together in a bowl.
- Pour the milk into a pan and warm over a low heat. Remove milk from heat and gradually stir in the egg mixture. Return mixture to a low heat stirring continuously until it thickens. Make sure it does not boil.
- Remove heat and pour mixture into a bowl. Then stir in the vanilla essence. Leave to cool for 1 hour.
- Spread cooled custard over the trifle and cover with cling film. Leave to chill for 2 hours.
- To create the topping simply whip the cream and stir in 2 tablespoons of caster sugar. Spread this over the trifle and decorate with glace cherries. Keep trifle chilled until 30 minutes before serving.
