lie back and think of England

Home.

After two months in hospital (incidentally, if you’re curious, I have blogged about its food in the past), finally I was home. Well, not quite. Straight after hospital, I went to Sydney to attend the 2011 Eat Drink Blog conference.

I’m still adjusting to life after hospital so I won’t be writing about the conference but I can give you my ‘cricket highlights’: I met lots of ace folks, ate lots of ace food and got to hang out with some (shock horror) non-foodie mates. Hours of Test matches in a non-airconditioned home after having moved from the UK to Australia is possibly character building but really bloody boring. The highlights after the news bulletin, however, is another matter.

It was, of course, good to head home. Lately I find I miss England so I decided to try my hand at making trifle, as one does when one misses home (no, I don’t quite get it either).

To warm up, I deliberately started with a piss-easy recipe: it’s common knowledge I’ve little prowess to speak of in the kitchen – nope, it’s not a schtick, it’s actual fact. Not really something I’m particularly proud of, it just is. There are several boring reasons for this, none of which I feel the need to disclose. Anyway, I couldn’t fully read the recipe @eatnik had posted on ze twitters, so I Googled a few and started with one entitled ‘big berry trifle’.

selected berries

Fair warning: I got dumped so no more fancy photos: for now, it’ll be my crummy phone ones. Back to the blog’s roots, yo.

To say I mucked around with the quantities and used an inadequately deep dish would be an understatement. Make sure you don’t do the latter!

Swiss roll

Line your dish with slices of the Swiss roll. Squish them up and fill any spaces you see.

Swiss roll lining

Top with the sliced strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.

mixed berries on Swiss roll lining

Pour vanilla custard on top of the fruit layer.

vanilla custard drowning fruits

Slather raspberry yoghurt over fruit and custard.

raspberry yoghurt on top of the custard-drowned berries

I managed to barely fit one more Swiss roll layer on top of all this, then smoothed the whipped cream over said layer. At which point it became clear my dish wasn’t deep enough…dear god, trifle-making is becoming a metaphor for my life…

finished trifle

Enjoy with a cup of strong tea and the promise of a coronary. I was going to have a glass of elderflower cordial but it was too gloomy an afternoon.

final product

It’s been a week and the trifle is still edible. It’s also nicer a couple of days after being assembled.

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17 thoughts on “lie back and think of England

  1. Aoife McGee

    Where’s the sherry??? I was thinking of making a trifle for Christmas too. Just like my mums one. It contained sponge, fruit, jelly, custard and cream with hundreds and thousands sprinkled on top. And the sponge was soaked in sherry I think. Mmmm

    Reply
  2. Winston

    Hey!! Trifles are one of my all-time favourite desserts! Mainly cause I love anything and everything custard! Last time I made it with homemade sponge but I like your idea of using those delicious store bought jam swiss rolls instead. I imagine they would be WAY more tasty than my lousily baked cake ;p

    Btw, glad to hear you’re out of the hospital already. Hope everything goes back to normal soon and that all is well on your end!

    Reply
    1. gem Post author

      The Swiss jam rolls are soooo cheating but pretty ace – all the fruit juices dilutes the saccharine sweetness of the jam. I will be making another trifle soon but will try to make the custard and the sponge from scratch (oh and thanks for the kind thoughts) 🙂

      Reply
  3. Miki

    Where’s the sherry??? I was thinking of making a trifle for Christmas too. Just like my mums one. It contained sponge, fruit, jelly, custard and cream with hundreds and thousands sprinkled on top.

    Reply
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