Almond trifle

I actually made this trifle a few weeks ago, with the leftover cake from that first almond cake I made.  That particular cake was OK, but a bit dry and after a couple of days wasn’t particularly tempting.  The second one I made and posted about here was so delicious that I scoffed it all and so it didn’t make its way into a trifle.

Stale cake makes a great base for a trifle and so it was that I made this for a Sunday dessert. There was a little under half a cake left to use. I sliced it and spread it with strawberry jam and soaked it with Amaretto. Then made a custard and covered it with lashings of softly whipped cream and toasted almonds.  It was a very comforting end to dinner but I was asked where the jelly was.  Oh well, you can’t please all of the people all of the time… If you want a trifle that has a jelly layer I have posted one before here.

Leftover almond cake (or you could use sponge, pound or madeira cake)
4-5 tbsp strawberry jam
50ml  Amaretto (or you could use sherry)
For the custard layer:
300ml double cream
3 egg yolks
25g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
For the top layer:
300ml double cream
25g almonds

Method

Slice the almond cake and spread with the strawberry jam.  Lay in the bottom of a trifle bowl.  Sprinkle the amaretto all over the sponge.

To make the custard, whisk the egg yolks, the sugar and cornflour (cornstarch) together in a bowl.  Heat the cream until almost boiling.  Pour the hot cream slowly over the egg yolks, whisking all the time.  Return the mixture to the pan and place onto a gentle heat.  Stir all the time until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Take off the heat and keep stirring until it cools a little.  Leave to cool and then pour over the cake slices.  Cover with clingfilm so that it is on top of the custard to prevent a skin forming and place in the fridge.

About an hour before serving softly whip the cream and spoon onto the custard. Toast the almonds in a dry pan over a medium heat (keep your eye on them as they can burn quickly) and then sprinkle over the cream.

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11 thoughts on “Almond trifle”

  1. I feel you are cooking just for me – you know I love almonds, and so it goes without saying that my late night tipple of choice is an Amaretto. Not a big jelly fan, so don’t mind that! On those rare occasions that I bake, we never have any cake left for trifle making though! This looks so creamy and dee-lish!

  2. I never have any left over cake to use as a base for trifle – too greedy, you see.

    Liking this trifle very much, especially the almondy goodness. Also liking it for the fact that is does not contain jelly!

    1. Hi Shaheen (although you will always be Mangocheeks to me ;)) Thanks for the lovely comment. It is funny, quite a few people don’t like the jelly idea. Is it the non veggie aspect of the jelly or would a veggie jelly be unappealing as well?

  3. When I was a kid, trifle was made once a year at Christmas from Birds trifle sponges, a tin of fruit cocktail, red jelly, far too much sherry, custard from a tin and squirty cream. With coloured hundreds and thousands sprinkled all over the top (obviously). Even worse, in my first chef job (around 1998 or 1999) we made the same thing except in individual sundae glasses and people actually bought it. I never thought I’d ever want to eat trifle after the monstrosities of my youth but yours might just be the one that would tempt me! I do love amaretto 🙂

    1. I am sorry Aveen but that trifle you describe sounds great. Is that awful?… yes it is… sorry. This is a much more sophisticated trifle, but I am a sucker for the 1970’s/80’s version too.

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