Tales from the Kitchen: Classic Trifle Recipe
It is one of the “Red, white, and blue” holidays this weekend and we are off to CT to spend the day celebrating with family and eating delicious food.
Being the supreme keeper of the family sweet tooth, I am, of course, bringing dessert, and I love to match it to the red white and blue theme.
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Sometimes this just means decorating the dessert with red, white, and blue toppers, like we did with these red velvet cupcakes from the 4th of July.
And sometimes it means using red, white, and blue ingredients.
This weekend, I’m going with the latter. The good Lord gave us red and blue berries and white whipped cream, so why not?
I’m making a classic trifle since it feeds a crowd and looks pretty doing it!
You can make this in any clear glass bowl, but the classic container is a trifle bowl - which is a pedestal bowl with straight sides that shows off the layers of this easy classic dessert beautifully.
I also own individual trifle bowls - of course I do?! - so that I can make individual portions for a more formal dinner party. But parfait glasses, mason jars, or even wine glasses would work just as well for individual servings.
There are many, many variations of trifle and this is an excellent way to use up a cake layer that failed to come out of the pan!
The key ingredients are cake, pudding, fruit, and whipped cream.
Cake
Cake layers can be classic: purchased or homemade (though honestly, there is so little difference it’s not worth the trouble) angel food cake torn into pieces, or purchased or homemade (again, for a trifle ingredient, hardly worth it) pound cake. I generally prefer pound cake.
Or it can be any other flavor of cake if you are doing a variation: chocolate or lemon, for example.
Cake layers can also be brushed with a bit of flavored syrup or liqueur as desired…so many options!
The beauty is, you can make/use a gluten free cake for the cake layers, and it will make this recipe gluten free if you need that!
Pudding
For the pudding layer, the classic choice is a pastry cream, which is basically a thicker vanilla pudding. I still use an old fashioned recipe from the vintage Betty Crocker Cookbook that I got as a new bride a lifetime ago.
Variations can use other flavored pudding, mousse, or pastry creams.
Fruit
The fruit can be fresh, sweetened, or laced with a bit of flavored liqueur.
I’ve done chocolate variations with raspberries and black forest variations with drunken cherries for other occasions.
But for this weekend, I’ll use the classic of fresh blueberries, strawberries, and maybe raspberries since they have been so sweet and tasty this summer and give me the red white and blue layers.
Whipped Cream
For the whipped cream I’ll make a lightly sweetened whipped cream with a hint of Chambourd for a bit of raspberry flavor, and add whipped cream stabilizer to keep it from breaking down prematurely.
Classic Trifle Recipe
Ingredients
2 Sara Lee frozen pound cakes, thawed
2 cups whipping cream, chilled
1/2 cup powdered sugar (or to taste)
1 tsp vanilla
Chambourd (optional)
1 quart strawberries, hulled and halved
1 pint blueberries
1/2 pint raspberries if available without a second mortgage?!
Pastry cream (recipe below)
Directions
Prepare pastry cream* (I double the recipe shown below - IMO you can never have too much pastry cream or frosting!)
Slice pound cakes horizontally into 2 layers, then cut layers into wedges to fit them into the round bowl, fitting tightly to the sides
Whip whipping cream with powdered sugar (and optional whipped cream stabilizer) until soft peaks form, whip in vanilla (or other flavored liquor)
Layer ingredients into bowl beginning with cake, followed by pastry cream, fruit, and whipped cream. Continue alternating layers ending with whipped cream.
Garnish with remaining berries
Chill until ready to serve.
*Pastry Cream Recipe
Cream Puff Filling from Betty Crocker Cookbook
Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks slightly beaten
2 Tbsp butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
Directions
Mix dry ingredients in a medium saucepan
Stir in milk gradually
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils.
Boil and stir for I minute.
Stir at least half the hot mixture slowly into the egg yolks
Blend the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan, boil and stir 1 minute.
Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla
Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming until ready to assemble trifle.