Classic Summer Fruit Trifle
This is a wonderful, colourful dessert. The different types of fruits bring out a real fresh, summery feeling. As summer is approaching, I thought it would be quiet nice to start of with a classic fruit trifle to get everyone in the feel for summer!
Trifles are great as you can experiment with whichever fruits that take your fancy and the seasonal, summer berries really bring out a great flavour. In this recipe I have made fresh homemade custard, but you can use a good quality shop bought custard. It is important to use a good flavoured one as this makes the taste!! Also I have used Mascarpone Cheese as I feel it complements the strawberries very well.
This is also a very good way to get fussy children to eat their 5 a day portion!!
Serves 6-8
Ingredients to Make the Custard
- ¾ Pint Milk
- 1 Split Vanilla Pod or 1tsp Good Vanilla Essence
- 3oz Caster Sugar
- 3 Egg Yolks
Take a saucepan and add the milk and vanilla. Bring to a near boil But NOT boiling. Take off the heat and let the flavour of the vanilla set in for a few minutes. Meanwhile, take another saucepan and beat together the eggs and sugar until light and pale in colour. Slowly, add the milk to the eggs, not the other way round or else you will get a scramble; and add bit by bit stirring all the time or else it will curdle; place back onto the heat and keep stirring until the custard starts to thicken. Do NOT let the custard boil or else it will split the milk. Once thickened remove from the heat and let it cool.
Ingredients Needed to Assemble the Trifle
- Custard (which you made earlier/ or shop bought)
- 1 Packet Fresh Strawberries (sliced and chopped)
- 1 Packet Fresh Blueberries
- 1 Can Pineapple Pieces in Syrup/425g; drain the pineapple pieces and reserve some of the juice
- 3 Kiwis (Sliced and Chopped)
- 1 Small Pack Ready- made Raspberry Jelly/175g
- 1 Pack Swiss Roll/170g
- 250g Tub Mascarpone
- 4-6 Biscuits; I have used Oatmeal and Honey. You can use any nice flavoured biscuits
- Toasted Almonds for Decoration
- Grated Chocolate for Decoration
YOU CAN USE ANY FRUITS OF YOUR CHOICE
Method
Slice the Swiss roll into fairly thick slices. You can use any other base that you might prefer; some suggestions include: Madeira cake, Brioche Loaf, Sponge Cake or even Ginger Cake.
I like using the Swiss roll as it has jam inside it and it also looks presentable on the trifle dish.
Take the mascarpone and add a little of the custard to loosen the texture slightly and leave aside.
Take the sliced Swiss roll pieces and decorate it on the base, all the way round the trifle dish. Then sprinkle some of the juice of the pineapple pieces which are in the can and make sure all the slices are well soaked. Set aside for a few minutes so that the slices have absorbed all the lovely juices. Take the sliced kiwis and sliced strawberries to decorate on top of the sliced rolls and make sure you press it onto the side s of the trifle dish, going all the way round; this just makes it more attractive to serve; you can see in the main picture. Take the remaining chopped fruit, pineapple pieces and the blueberries and divide into three parts; the reason for this is so that you have enough fruit to do three layers, the third layer being the final decorative layer. Take the jelly and cut into pieces and dot it on the first layer. You can use all the jelly on this layer. Then pour 1/3 of the custard onto the jelly. Repeat this process and do layers with the fruit and custard. Once, you have done second layer, break the biscuits and sprinkle all over and then finish off with the mascarpone on top. Spread out the mascarpone and decorate with the final, third layer of the fruit. Sprinkle the almonds and grate some chocolate on top. Leave in the fridge for at least 6 hrs. This will allow the trifle to set.
Serve cold on a hot summer’s day!! Wonderful!
Sejal's Recipe Blog 