Celebration Trifle

So to restore your faith in trifle and to dispel all bad memories of boarding school green jelly trifle, try and celebrate trifle. When it comes to quantities though this depends on what trifle bowl you plan to use. We have used a rather large impressive bowl and so quantities are very generous! Pandora is a delicious Italian cake, similar to Panettone but without the fruit.

To make the custard, place the cream, milk and vanilla paste into a saucepan and heat until it comes to a boil. Mix the egg yolks, sugar and corn flour into a bowl. Very slowly add the heated milk and cream into the egg mixture. Return the mixture into the saucepan with the brandy and on the lowest setting continue to stir the custard mixture with a wooden spoon until very
well thickened. If the custard starts to curdle at the bottom of the saucepan, grab a whisk, take it off the heat and plunge the saucepan into ice cold water and whisk furiously! When the custard is ready, pour it into a jug and cover with cling film to prevent a skin from forming. Allow to cool completely before using the custard in the trifle.
Makes 1 litre of custard.

For the chocolate sauce simply heat the cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Take the cream off the heat and add the chocolate chunks. The chocolate will melt into the heated cream and become thicker as it stands and gets cooler.

TIP: If you do not have pandora you can substitute it with sponge cake. See recipe mailer # 25

To assemble the trifle, pour half the chocolate sauce into the base of your bowl. Make a layer of Pandora slices over the chocolate sauce and splash with Kirsch liquor. Sprinkle over a mixture of berries, cherries and sliced strawberries. Pour over 200ml of brandy custard. Repeat the layering as above until you have filled your bowl. Whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla until you have stiff peaks and fold onto the top of the trifle with a sprinkling of crushed Amoretti biscuits.