February:
Happy Go Lucky Rainbow Trifel
One of my fondest memories is when my mother gave us trifle for breakfast on a warm December morning after Christmas. I was 10 or 11. There was a certain anticipation in the air. Our good friends would visit in a few days. It had just been Christmas and the presents still had their magic of needing to be put together to be played with. My mother had made trifle for Christmas, something that we almost always had around that time of the year. It was a lazy morning. Everybody
was still sleeping off the meal from the day before. Friends came for coffee late morning and since there was still quite a lot of trifle left over, my mother decided that this will be our breakfast for today, and let me tell you, if you ever start your day with trifle...it will be a good day.
A trifle is in itself quite a festive dessert and traditionally English. A good trifle has beautiful layers of custard, jelly, canned fruits or jam (store bought or homemade) and a soft sponge swiss roll. Since this month’s theme is Sex and Gender, I decided to make a rainbow trifle. While I affiliate trifle mostly with Christmas time and sunshine, there is no reason not to bring some cheer and sunshine into the dark winterdays of February with a colourful trifle. It is quite easy to make, however finding the right ingredients in the Netherlands might be a little challenging, but you can always use alternatives!
Ingredients:
Rum
Boerencake/Swiss Roll (or any other type of sponge cake)
Purple food colouring
Blueberry jam (you can also use fresh or frozen blueberries and make a jam with chia seeds)
Green Jelly
Vanilla Custard
Orange food colouring
Red fruits jam (you can also use fresh or frozen red fruits and make a jam with chia seeds)
Pink jelly
Pistache (or other nuts, like pecan nuts for garnishing)
With these ingredients, you will be able to make an 8 layer trifle. It is all about the layers. The assembly of the trifle is quite simple and fast, however the preparation of each layer might take a few hours.
For the sake of the recipe, I will use a bowl with the depth of 12 cm and 20cm diameter.
Step 1: Picking a bowl
Decide which bowl you will build your trifle in. It needs to be a deep bowl (10-15cm deep), preferably round with a flat bottom. The size of the bowl will determine how much of each layer youwill need to prepare. You can also use tall glasses to make individual trifles. A clear glass bowl will work the best to present the trifle.
Step 2: Making the jelly
Make the jelly according to the packet in two different bowls, green in the one bowl and pink in the other bowl.
Step 3: Infusing the cake
Cut the cake in equal slices. Take out two bowls. Pour rum in both, enough to cover four slices of cake. Add a few drops of purple food colour in one bowl and mix well so the liquid is bright purple. Add orange food colour in the other bowl of rum and mix well. Place four slices of cake in each bowl, cover with a bowl or clingfilm and set aside for a few hours, until the jelly is done.
Step 4: Making the jam
Now we will make the jam. You can use store bought jam, but it might make the trifle a bit too sweet. You can make your own jam with chia seeds and frozen fruits. Depending on the size of the bowl, you will need to see how much jam you need to make. You will need enough jam for about 1,5 cm of jam. You will need about 1 tablespoon of chiaseeds on a cup of fruit.
Heat fruit in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is heated through and begins to break down and bubble. Use a spoon or potato masher to mash the fruit to your desired consistency.
Stir in the chia seeds and lemon juice until combined. Then taste, and stir in 1 or 2 tablespoons sweetener if needed. You can use normal sugar, honey or maple syrup as sweetener.
Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. (The jam will thicken considerably as it cools.)
Use the recipe for both the blueberry jam and the red fruits jam. Set aside and let the jam cool down completely.
Step 5: Assembling the trifle
Now it is time for some building! Once the jelly is set and the jam is cooled, take out the cake, jelly, jam, custard and pistache along with the bowl (or glasses) you will build the trifle in.
Take out the now purple cake and cover the bottom of the dish with the cake. Break or cut the cake to the entire bottom is covered. Make sure to clean the sides of the bowl if you want the layers to be prominent.
Pour the blueberry jam on top of the purple cake and spread out evenly.
Cut the green jelly into smaller cubs and carefully spread it out over the jam.
Gently pour the custard over the jelly and cover it completely.
Sprinkle the desired amount of crushed pistache over the custard.
Place the orange cake on top of the layer of custard and cover completely.
Pour the red fruit jam on top of the orange cake and spread out evenly.
Cut the pink jelly into smaller cubs and carefully spread it out over the jam.
Gently pour the custard over the jelly and cover it completely.
Sprinkle the desired amount of crushed pistache over the custard.
Refrigerate the trifle for an hour before serving.