Prue Leith Is the ‘Queen’ of This Dessert — and It’s Nearly Easy

Prue Leith is best-known as a decide on The Nice British Baking Present, the place contestants make elaborate desserts like towering layer muffins and 3D “biscuit” sculptures. However Leith’s favourite dessert to make at dwelling is kind of easy in comparison with these show-stoppers — and requires no baking time in any respect. 

“Every time we’ve leftover cake, biscuit or pastry of virtually any sort, I flip it right into a trifle,” Leith writes in her newest cookbook, Life’s Too Quick to Stuff a Mushroom, which incorporates 5 recipes for the basic English dessert. 

In truth, Dame Leith calls herself the “queen of trifles.” 

A basic English trifle options layers of sponge cake soaked in sherry or one other fortified wine, custard cream, fruit, and a whipped cream topping. However you’ll be able to assume past the English trifle template to make riffs like a Caramel-Pear-Cheesecake Trifle or Black Sesame Banana Cake Trifle. Right here’s the way to “trifle” absolutely anything. 

make a trifle 

The fantastic thing about a trifle is that you simply don’t actually need a recipe, and it may be as easy or fancy as you need it to be. You may make the whole lot from scratch, you’ll be able to lean solely on store-bought substances, or you’ll be able to take a semi-homemade strategy. Say you’ve gotten leftover cake layers — slice them into cubes and prime with ready-made lemon curd or caramel sauce. Or you’ll be able to physician up store-bought pound cake with home made custard cream and recent fruit. 

Whether or not you’re utilizing home made or store-bought substances, right here’s a tough system for this choose-your-own-adventure dessert. 

1. Begin with a big trifle dish or bowl. Should you don’t have a trifle dish, you should use a big mixing bowl, ideally glass to point out off the layers inside. (When assembling, you’ll be able to line the substances you need to exhibit across the fringe of the dish, resembling slices of jelly roll cake or recent fruit for a Combined-Fruit Trifle.)
2. Add a cake layer. This may very well be the basic sponge cake, panettone, pound cake, brownies, stale croissants, or any base that may absorb the flavors of the trifle. Slice the cake into cubes or strips and line on the underside of the dish. Leith likes so as to add an non-compulsory step of spreading the cake layer with one thing candy like orange marmalade, strawberry jam, and even Nutella.
3. Soak the cake layer if you’d like. For an English-style trifle (or an Italian zuppa inglese), you’ll be able to soak or brush the cake layer with a liqueur or spirit. Sherry is the basic selection for an English trifle, however you can even decide to make use of amaretto, brandy, rum, limoncello, or a non-alcoholic choice like a fruit syrup.
4. Add a creamy layer. This may very well be custard, mousse, immediate pudding, and even recent whipped cream. (Be aware that you may add a layer of cream beneath the primary cake layer if you happen to favor.)
5. Prime with fruit or different mix-ins. Assume sliced strawberries or bananas, toasted nuts, crushed-up candies, or crushed cookies like Oreos or gingersnaps. 
6. Repeat. Repeat layers till you get to the highest of the bowl, ending with the creamy layer or a layer of recent whipped cream.
7. Garnish. Prime off your masterpiece with extra recent fruit, crushed sweet, nuts, or crushed cookies.

Be at liberty to, um, trifle with this template primarily based on what you’ve gotten out there and your favourite flavors. Nevertheless it seems, nobody goes to cross up a giant bowl of cake and cream!