Raspberry and vanilla trifle

This post is in collaboration with
This is a simple but delicious trifle recipe inspired by Fever-Tree’s new Refreshingly Light Wild Raspberry Tonic. I love that this dessert can be made the day before, which is perfect if you are planning a get-together for a crowd - it can be made as one large dessert or as individual serving portions. I used all store-bought ingredients here to show how easy it is to put a dessert together if you are short on time, but I also have listed my homemade recipes below for the sponge, jam and also custard, in case you want to spend a bit more time on this dessert. If raspberries are hard to find, you can use frozen or freeze-dried, and I love the tanginess that they add to balance out the sweetness in the jam and the custard. Not just for Christmas, this trifle is the perfect sharing dish!
Time: Made in 15-20mins
Serves: 8-10 people
FOR THE TRIFLE
1 ltr cream
Icing sugar to taste
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1x sponge cake (the one I brought was a 20cmx45cm cake)
Good quality raspberry jam (I used around 350g)
1 litre vanilla custard
Optional: 2x punnets raspberries, or 1x 10g packet freeze-dried raspberries
OPTIONAL GARNISH
I used Persian fairy floss
Raspberries (fresh or freeze-dried)
Edible flowers
Whip the cream and add the icing sugar and vanilla to suit your tastes. Set aside for now. In your serving dish, start by layering a sponge at the bottom, and spread over dollops of the jam. I added in fresh raspberries here for some extra freshness on top of the jam. Next, I layered on some of the custard, and then the cream and repeated the process to get another layer. I garnished with fresh berries, a little Persian fairy floss and edible flowers. You can eat it straight away, but I find that trifle is always better if it has had time to sit so all of the flavours can blend. Sit in the fridge for 4-24 hours.
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ADDITIONAL RECIPES
The sponge and the (adapted) jam recipe are from my second cookbook, and the custard recipe is from my first book

SPONGE CAKE
4 free-range eggs, separated
1 tablespoon boiling water
¾ cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon flour in a 1 cup measuring cup, then fill the remaining with cornflour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Preheat oven to 180°C and put the oven rack just below the centre. Line the bottom of a 23cm (9") springform cake tin with baking paper, then grease the sides with butter and dust with flour. For the sponge, in the bowl of a stand mixer with a balloon whisk (or you can use a hand-held electric mixer) beat the egg whites and 1 tablespoon boiling water on high until the whites are thick and stiff. Add the castor sugar bit by bit, and mix until the sugar has dissolved. Rub some of the mix between your finger – if you can’t feel the sugar grains, it’s ready. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Sift over the flour, cornflour and baking powder, and gently fold in the dry ingredients by hand, keeping as much volume as possible.
Pour cake mixture into the prepared cake tin, smooth out the top and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and puffed. Remove the sponge from the oven before cooling for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the tin, then remove the sponge and cool on a wire rack. While this is cooling, make the jam recipe below.
RASPBERRY JAM
Time: 10 minutes
Makes: Approx. 1 1/2 cups
500g raspberries (frozen is fine)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup fair trade sugar
1 knob of butter
Place the raspberries in a medium-size pot with the lemon juice and cook over medium/high heat until the raspberries begin to release some of their juices. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved, then boil gently for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring regularly so it doesn’t catch on the bottom. Remove and stir in the butter until melted into the jam. Set aside to cool if using on the sponge above, or decant into sterilised jars
VANILLA CUSTARD
Makes: 2 cups
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2 cups milk
4 free-range egg yolks
1/3 cup fair trade unrefined sugar
3 teaspoons cornflour
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
Heat the milk in a pot over medium-high heat until hot but not boiling. While that is coming up to heat whisk the eggs, sugar, cornflour and vanilla in a bowl. Add a 1/3 of the milk to the yolk mixture to begin with, whisking well, and then add the rest of the milk while continuously whisking.
Pour the custard back into the pot that you warmed the milk in and cook over medium heat stirring until it thickens. You want to remove it when it’s just thick enough, if you overcook it, it will curdle and go lumpy. It might seem like it needs longer to cook – but it will thicken more when it cools. To test if it’s ready take a metal spoon and dip it into the crème anglaise. On the back of the spoon, run your finger through the middle to make a line. If it holds its shape and the sides don’t run to the centre, it’s ready. If you overcook it – it can curdle and have an ‘eggy’ flavour. Pour immediately into a jug (or a milk bottle) so it stops it cooking.