English Trifle

Over the holidays, I made an all-time Christmas favorite – English Trifle!  My mom always made this for our family and so I thought I would carry on the tradition.  Here is my recipe for English Trifle, complete with a recipe for made-from-scratch custard because my grocery store did not carry Bird’s Dessert Mix (must be a specialty item found in stores that carry British products).

Ingredients:

1 pound cake (mine was from the Kroger bakery)

2 cups frozen strawberries (thaw completely, retaining the juices)

1 pkg Jello (I used raspberry, but I’m sure any “red” flavor would do)

1 large tub of Cool Whip

 

For the custard:

4 cups of milk                     ½ cup cornstarch

½ cup white sugar               2/3 cup sugar

4 egg yolks                          4 tbsp butter

2 eggs                                 2 tsp vanilla extract

The day before:

Slice the pound cake and lay flat in a 9x12-glass dish.  Arrange the thawed strawberries evenly over the cake slices, drizzle with the strawberry juice.  Make the Jello according to the package directions.  Pour the Jello over the cake and strawberries.  Refrigerate over night.

The next morning:

Make the custard (this recipe comes from allrecipes.com and is delicious warm, right out of the pot, or cold, as used in this dessert).   I doubled the recipe for my Trifle.  Click here for the original Pastry Cream recipe.

 

• In a heavy saucepan, stir together the milk and ½ cup of sugar.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring continuously so as not to scald it.

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and eggs.  Stir together the remaining sugar and cornstarch; then stir them into the eggs until smooth.  When the milk comes to a boil, drizzle it into the bowl in a thin stream while whisking the mixture so that you do not cook the eggs.  (You will need a second person for this, unless you are strong enough to hold a heavy pot with four cups of milk at just the right angle to create a thin stream with one hand, while you are whisking the ingredients in the bowl with the other hand.)

• Return the mixture to the saucepan, and slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly so the eggs don’t curdle or scorch on the bottom.  When the mixture comes to a boil and thickens (which will happen very fast - no walking away from the pot), remove it from the heat and continue to stir to avoid lumps from forming.  Stir in the butter and vanilla, mixing until the butter is completely blended in.

• Let the custard sit for about a half hour to cool.

Now it’s time to assemble.  Using a trifle dish or any pretty glass container, make a layer of the cake/Jello, then custard, then Cool Whip, and repeat.  It is beautiful and deliciously sweet and creamy.  The only difficult part was the custard, and even then, if you follow the steps, I think it is fairly easy.  Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

A small note on fat and calories… I used whole milk, real butter, bakery pound cake, regular Cool Whip and Jello… no low fat/sugar free anything!  This is a special, once-a-year treat; I figured I would not ruin the taste or texture by worrying about my waistline.