Nigella Lawson's Boozy British Trifle

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Nigella Christmas - Photo copyright Random House

You can't get more British than the classic trifle, so who better to turn to for the ultimate recipe than Britain's own Domestic Goddess, Nigella Lawson?

The following comes from Nigella Christmas (see book review) and has been republished with the permission of the publisher. (American measurements have been added in brackets.)

Says Nigella: "I think this really says it all. I have written so many recipes for trifle, I scarcely dare reiterate my love for it, but this, perhaps the most traditional of my offerings, shows the sensational, time-honoured pud at its glorious, many-layered best: the jam-slashed and sherry-sodden sponge, the sharp fruity layer of flavour-oozing berries, the eggy custard and the whipped cream. On top, my favourite colour combination: the Victorian pink of crystallized rose petals with the tender green of chopped pistachios. Perfection."

Makes enough for 20 portions easily.

The Boozy British Trifle Custard Ingredients:

• 1 litre double cream (4 cups heavy cream)
• 8 egg yolks (you could make Pavlova or freeze the whites in an airtight freezer bag for up to 6 months)
• 2 whole eggs
• 50 g caster sugar (1/4 cup superfine sugar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The Boozy British Trifle Base Ingredients:

• 2 packets trifle sponges, with 8 sponges in each packet (or 2 plain pound cakes of 12 ounces each)
• 1 x 340g jar strawberry or blackberry jam (one 12-ounce jar)
• 500ml cream sherry (2 cups sweet sherry)
• 2 x 380g packets of frozen summer fruits, thawed (two 12-ounce bags)
• zest of 1 orange
• 25g caster sugar - not needed if using fresh fruits (2 tablespoons superfine sugar)

The Boozy British Trifle Topping Ingredients:

• 500ml double cream (2 cups heavy cream)
• 50g (shelled) pistachios (1/3 cup)
• 1 x 15ml tablespoon crystallised rose petals (or crystallised violet petals) – try jane-asher.co.uk or confiserieflorian.com

The Boozy British Trifle Directions:

1. To make the custard, heat the cream in a large, wide, heavy-based pan and while it’s heating, whisk the egg yolks, whole eggs and caster sugar in a bowl. When the cream’s at boiling point – thought don’t actually let it boil – take it off the heat and pour it over the eggs and sugar, whisking asyou go.
2. Wash out the pan (boring but it does have to be done), then pour the uncooked custard back into it and return to the heat. Cook over a medium heat (people will tell you it should be low heat but that is just too tedious for words), stirring all the time, until it has thickened. It must never boil!
3. After 10-15 minutes, it should be thick enough, so straight away pour it into a cold, clean bowl, add the vanilla extract, and whisk a bit to help bring the temperature down. Cover the very top of the custard, as well as the bowl, with clingfilm and leave to cool, while you start assembling your trifle.
4. Split the 16 trifle sponges in half and make into sandwiches with the jam. Squidge these into the base of your trifle bowl. (A trifle bowl should, I feel, be glass so you can see the layers from the outside. The proportions vary and, since the point of a trifle is the layers, the dimensions of your bowl will determine how these build up and the amount of sponge etc you will need.) Pour the sherry over the sponge sandwiches and let it soak in. Now tumble in the thawed summer fruits, with a little of their liquid (it might seem unseasonal to use ‘summer’ fruits, but I love their tartness against the sweetness of the custard that will drape over them). Then grate the zest of the orange over the fruit and sprinkle with the caster sugar; if you’re not using frozen fruit (which tends to be sour), don’t bother with the sugar. (And you could bake a layer of pink, forced winter rhubarb, instead. Use 1kg rhubarb – about 800g when it's trimmed and sliced into 4cm-5cm pieces. Put the slices in a baking dish, sprinkle with 300g caster sugar, cover tightly with foil and cook, without adding liquid, for 45 minutes in a 190C/gas mark 5 (375F) oven. Once the rhubarb’s cold, use that as your fruit layer and boil down the juices to make a syrup for ice cream, or to drizzle – reduced and then chilled – over the cream with the pistachios and rose, later).
5. When the custard’s cool, remove the clingfilm. Pour and scrape the custard on top of the berries. It will be soft-set: thickened but far from solid. Cover the bowl (not the custard this time) with some fresh clingfilm (plastic wrap) and refrigerate for at least half a day or up to 2 days – it’s this standing time that makes the difference.
6. When you are ready to serve, take the trifle out of the fridge to stand for about 1 hour. Whisk the cream until softly whipped. You don’t want it to merge with the custard, but nor do you want it stiffly peaking.
7. Remove the clingfilm from the trifle bowl and spread the cream on top of the custard with a rubber spatula.
8. Finely chop the pistachios, sprinkle over the top of the trifle and adorn with a few, beautiful crystallized rose petals (or crystallised violet petals, if you prefer).

The Boozy British Trifle Make Ahead Tip:

• Make the trifle (without the cream) up to 2 days ahead. Keep, covered, in the fridge. When ready to serve, finish with the cream, pistachios and crystallized rose (or violet) petals, as directed.

The Boozy British Trifle Tips:

• If you really don’t want to make custard from scratch, you can use good shop-bought ‘fresh’ custard, 2-3 x 500ml (500g) cartons.
• Crystallised rose petals or violet petals are easy to find at specialist cake decoration stores or online.

Karin Engelbrecht - My love of fine food is larger than Africa, where I was born and raised. I left South Africa for an adventure in Amsterdam in 1996 as a ...

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