Memorial Day weekend is here, and we traditionally celebrate with strawberry shortcake for dessert. This year, though, I’m going to vary a little from that theme and make a strawberry trifle instead. Trifle is a very old English dessert –or really a class of desserts– that layers cake, fruit (and often many other things) with what is in my opinion one of the greatest achievements of English cuisine, vanilla custard.
Trifles can be very elaborate, but this one is deliciously simple: buttery pound cake, velvety custard, strawberries spiked with balsamic vinegar, and barely sweetened whipped cream. It’s a wonderful combination of flavors and textures.
If you buy the pound cake (and there’s no reason you shouldn’t from a good bakery), the only thing you really need to make is the custard. Fortunately, this requires minimal effort and produces something sublimely delicious that you might find yourself making over and again –not just for trifle, but also to pour, hot or cold, over pies, cakes and fresh fruit. (And David loves to eat it on its own too.)
Here’s a short video about making the custard and the trifle. Recipes follow.
Strawberry Trifle
Recipe
(for 4 individual trifles)
Ingredients
About 1 pint (.5l) fresh strawberries
About 2 tablespoons sugar
About 1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
2-3 1/2″‘ (1cm) slices of pound cake (from a standard loaf)
Vanilla custard (recipe below)
About 1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
Confectioners sugar
Instructions
1. Make and cool the custard, at least to room temperature.
2. Clean, trim and quarter the berries and macerate them with about 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of aged balsamic vinegar, or to taste.
3. Cut the pound cake into 1/2″ (1cm) (cubes, enough to cover the bottoms of each of the dessert glasses. Place the cake cubes in the glasses.
4. Cover the cake well with the custard, making sure it completely envelops the pieces of cake and forms an ample layer on top. If the custard is not already cold, chill the dessert in the refrigerator for at least half an hour before proceeding.
5. Whip the cream to soft peaks, lightly sweeting to taste with confectioners sugar.
6. Spoon a generous layer of the berries on top of the custard, top with a big dollop of cream, garnish with a small whole or a half strawberry and serve.
Vanilla Custard
Recipe
(enough custard for 6 individual trifles)
Ingredients
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup (240ml) milk
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the milk, cream and vanilla until just below the boiling point.
3. Pour a bit of the hot milk mixture –a quarter cup or so– into the eggs and whisk quickly to “temper” the mixture. (I do this twice out of an abundance of caution. You don’t want scrambled eggs.) Then slowly pour in the rest, whisking to combine.
4. Transfer the mixture back to the sauce pan and cook over medium heat until it coats the back of a spoon, about 3-5 minutes more.
5. Use warm poured over cakes, pies or fruit, or cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for later use.
