Royal Cherry Trifle

To celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, my husband and I made a trifle. Trifle can be lots of things, usually with cake/ladyfingers, custard, and whipped cream. It seems like there is usually alcohol of some sort, sherry or in this case, cherry brandy. This trifle is quite a bit different than the baking that I usually do, as this does not require exact ingredients. Yes, the Madeira cake and the custard is fairly finicky, but I made a number of substitutions with other ingredients. 

As I said earlier, I couldn’t find the Madeira cake in the store so I just made one. You could substitute any pound cake and it would work. I certainly used way more than 3-1/2 ounces of cherry brandy, probably double that! I find that amaretti are fairly expensive and so I used almond biscotti that I got at Trader Joe’s. Their biscotti are really good and we really enjoyed the extras we had. I also used a combination of cherry preserves and some chocolate cherry preserves. With this type of recipe, you can really get away with going in your own direction.

This was a great ending to our Diamond Jubilee celebration. We also had tarts (from our local British store) and finger sandwiches. It was such a fun day and we should really put together little celebrations like this more often. 

2 ounces sugar

2 ounces cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, plus 1 yolk

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 pound cherries, pitted

12 ounce jar cherry preserves

1 pound Madeira cake

3-1/2 ounces cherry brandy

5 amaretti, broken

1 cup heavy cream, lightly whipped

Make the custard: In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, eggs, and egg yolk. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and heavy cream. Heat on low until hot, but do not boil. Slowly pour the hot milk mixture over the sugar/egg mixture, whisking as you go. Wash the saucepan and then pour the custard mixture back into the saucepan. Heat on low, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Pour the custard into a small bowl and cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool.

In a medium saucepan, combine the pitted cherries and half of the cherry preserves. Cover over medium heat for about 5 minutes until softened and sauce-like. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Slice the Madeira cake into ½” slices. Spread half of the slices with the remaining cherry preserves. Sandwich with the remaining cake slices. Pour the cherry brandy into a small bowl and dip the cake sandwiches into the brandy. Arrange in the base of an 8” trifle dish.

Top the cake sandwiches with the cooled cherry mixture, then top with the crumbled amaretti. Add the cooled custard on top and then finish with the lightly whipped cream. Chill for several hours before serving.

Recipe from BBC Good Food