When I was looking for trifle recipes my wife initially suggested I would make Heston Blumenthal's version*. Hah, very funny, love, but no. I decided to go for Rick Stein's Traditional English Trifle.
Well, I looked at it.
And then I took every shortcut I could think of.
Bake my own madeira cake? Oh, look, cheap supermarket's madeira cake.
Make my own custard? Ooo, look, cheap supermarket's fresh custard...
I've never actually made Rick Stein's trifle and as a result I don't have a clue whether my shortcut version has any positive relation to his, but my family likes it, so who am I not to keep making it?
Since I'm not actually following Rick Stein's recipe I've always had to guess most of the quantities and have ended up buying too much. My main reason for writing this down is so next year I can finally stop buying too many ingredients.
While most celebrity chefs always seem to suggest getting the best ingredients money can buy, I suggest getting the "normal" range of fresh custard from your supermarket, and the cheapest madeira cake you can get.
2 * 500gr tubs fresh custard (I use Sainsbury's Fresh Custard, not the one from their Taste the Difference range)
1.5 jars raspberry conserve (I use Bon Maman)
4 * 265gr madeira cake (I use Sainsbury's Basics Madeira Cake)
200 gr milk chocolate
480 ml double cream
Oloroso sherry (about 20 spoonfuls, far less than a bottle)
This gives me about two medium sized serving bowls and a bit more worth of trifle. I tend to create little individual ones without the sherry for the kids and put all the sherry in the main bowls.
Day before serving (i.e. Christmas Eve):
Cut the cakes length ways into slices about 1cm thick, cut the "crusts" off.
Put one layer of cake on the bottom of your serving bowl.
Spread about two spoonfuls of jam on it.
Add another layer of cake + jam.
Depending on the height of your serving bowl, you might want to add another layer of cake + jam.
Drizzle over the sherry and give it a bit of time to sink in, you can help it by poking the cake layers with a knife to create a few holes.
Pour the custard on top, cover with cling film and put in the fridge.
Grate the chocolate (First time I bought a packed of grated chocolate, and since I haven't been able to find that cheat anymore I now grate the chocolate using a food processor). Cover and put in the fridge as well.
Just before serving (Christmas Day):
Whip cream, scoop and spread on top of the trifles, sprinkle over the grated chocolate.
There is no chocolate in Rick Stein's recipe, but I think the sprinkled chocolate looks and tastes good and the kids love doing the sprinkling.
Enjoy.
* I used to have a link to Heston Blumenthal's trifle recipe, but the recipe seems to have disappeared from the BBC Food website. I can't find the recipe online now, but it is the one that takes 6 hours to make and requires wonderful kitchen implements such as an electric drill and a blow dryer. [UPDATE: I found a simplified version of Blumenthal's trifle, which still seems like an awful lot of work.]
