New paintings and regular art updates.
This was for my sisters birthday, a few days ago. Decorated with glace cherries and chocolate buttons.
It’s jelly with raspberries and port, strawberry blancmange, and whipped cream on top. This is something I usually make for birthdays ot Christmas. It is indulgent, but I use sugar free jelly and I use sweetner in the blancmange.
This can serve up to eight portions, so sometimes I make about half the amount if there are only a couple of us having it.
What food would you say is your specialty?
My trifle is based on my mother’s and her mother’s recipe.
It consists of a fruit and jelly bottom layer with a touch of sherry or port.
Middle layer? Blancmange (not custard). Either the same flavour as the jelly or something different like chocolate.
Top layer, a decent amount of whipped double cream, with possibly cherries, strawberries or raspberries on top or grated chocolate.
You can’t really go wrong with that X. Usually I make it at Christmas or for birthdays.
What’s your favorite recipe?
Ingredients
Jelly powder or cubes to make up about a pint of jelly. Choose your favourite flavour.
Fresh fruit, I use raspberries, blueberries or strawberries.
Blancmange powder or if preferred custard powder to make a pint.
Pint of milk.
Two tablespoons sweetner or sugar.
Fresh double cream, choose how much you want.
Toppings, can be glace cherries, or chocolate sprinkled on top or hundreds and thousands.
Make up a pint of jelly /sugar free jelly with about 3/4 of a pint of boiling water and a little slosh of port or sherry and add raspberries or blueberries or strawberries or a mixture of all three (I don’t use sponge fingers as they are too sugary.).
Let cool then store in the fridge overnight to set thoroughly.
Next mix blancmange powder or custard powder with a small amount of milk from a pint and sugar or sweetener to taste.
Put the rest of the milk on to boil, as it starts to boil carefully pour into the custard or blancmange powder mix, stir it in and then pour back into the pan, bring to the boil while stirring and let it thicken on the hob over about a minute.
Turn off the heat and let it cool. To stop it being too hot to pour onto the jelly (it will melt) place the pan of custard/blancmange into a larger pan of cold water (without getting the mixture wet) this allows it to cool, stir it every few minutes to stop it going lumpy and setting. When it is cool enough pour over the jelly.
Finally whisk the cream into stiff peaks and put on top of the custard/blancmange.
The sugar free version is nice to have if you are diabetic but still want a treat.
Serve in nice glass bowls if you can. This gives 6 good sized portions.
Finishing off my trifle. Sugar free jelly with fresh raspberries. Blancmange with sweetner, cream on top! Yum!
I only make it for special occasions, my sister has been to visit so it was a treat for her. It’s refreshing and tasty. Not overly sweet, with fresh fruit rather than trifle sponges that can be too sugary.
What’s your favorite recipe?
Trifle, my favourite treat.
A layer of jelly, a layer of blancmange or custard and a layer of whipped cream.
I make up a sachet of sugar free jelly with three quarters of a pint of boiling water and a quarter of a pint of port or sherry. I add that to large bowl and add chopped strawberries or raspberries or blueberries to make the jelly stronger when it sets (I don’t use trifle sponges as they are full of sugar) once cooled I put it in the fridge to set.
When the jelly is set I mix up a pint of blancmange with boiling milk (you can use custard) this comes in a variety of flavours. I use a sweetner instead of sugar in the mixture, one that doesn’t have an aftertaste. Once the liquid has been boiled and thickened I put the saucepan in a larger one filled with cold water. The blancmange cools enough so that it doesn’t melt the jelly when you add it to the top.
Once the middle layer is set I take a large tub of double cream and whisk it till it is stiff and makes peaks. This is spooned onto the trifle.
You can add decorations such as sprinkles (hundreds and thousands) or glacé cherries, grated chocolate or chopped strawberries etc.
I make it as sugar free as I can, but it is high in fat. You could use skimmed milk for the middle layer.
This is a Christmas or Easter treat in our house. And sometimes I make it for birthdays instead of cake.
Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?
Christmas and Easter, we always had trifle.
It was a concoction of jelly (strawberry or raspberry) in the base with trifle sponges, hard fingers of dry sugary sponge that swelled up and absorbed the jelly. This made it firm when it set for the next layer. This was always blancmange, not custard. A raspberry, strawberry or chocolate layer made with blancmange powder, sugar and boiled in with a pint of milk. Then the top was double cream whipped to stiff peaks.
Mom used to decorate the top with silver coloured balls and hundreds and thousands (coloured sprinkles), or maybe some tinned peach slices or glacé cherries? When I was young we didn’t have strawberries or raspberries or blackberries in the winter or spring. Fruit was more seasonal than it is now. It was usually grown here, so it just wasn’t available.
Memories like this are great. Whenever I think of comfort food it has to be trifle. Mom’s secret ingredient as we got a bit older was sherry added to the jelly. Nowadays I prefer a small amount of port. I don’t use sponge fingers as they are full of sugar. I use sugar free jelly and sweetner in the blancmange (which is getting hard to source). It’s still full fat cream though. I usually put blueberries in the jelly, unheard of in my childhood days.
Maybe I could try pomegranate seeds in one? I like blackberries, maybe blackcurrants? And I’ve even considered making my own jelly with sheets of gelatine. However I make it, it still brings back good childhood memories.
Made a birthday trifle, raspberrysugar free jelly with blackberries and port, strawberry blancmange with a bit of sweetner, whipped cream with chopped strawberries and grated dark chocolate.
Now that’s what I call a trifle!
Dessert is in the fridge. Well half, we have already had some for tea. It’s a trifle made of sugar free blackberry jelly with gelatine (not jam) with added raspberries and port. Topped with chocolate blancmange and whipped double cream.
It’s all sugar free so although it’s got fat and carbs in it, it’s not bad for sugar content. I try not to eat cake or biscuits, but this with fresh fruit in is lovely. I sometimes use strawberry or orange flavour jelly. You can also make it with sherry instead of port or alcohol free. Sometimes you can use sponge fingers in the jelly to make it stronger. It has to support the weight of the top two layers. But I don’t use that because they are too sweet. And some people add a layer of custard instead of blancmange, which us increasingly difficult to get hold of unless you buy it online. If you make it I hope you enjoy it. X
I decided to make a trifle for the New Year. I like doing this because I can make it sugar free. I also got my sister to bring some blancmange over because I hate custard in trifle.
There are lots of different recipes but mine is quite simple. I make up sugar free jelly first. Using about half a pint of boiling water and slightly over a quarter of a pint of port or sherry mixed into the jelly. (if you don’t want alcohol just use three quarters of a pint of water). The reason I don’t use a full pint is because I usually add a punnet of raspberries, blueberries or strawberries into the jelly, and this seems to add to the fluid levels in the jelly. (I don’t use sponge fingers because of the texture and they are full of sugar). Then I let it cool before putting the bowl in the fridge to set. A few hours later when the jelly is set I make the blancmange. That is a packet of blancmange powder mixed with three tablespoons of milk out of a pint. To this I add a tablespoon of sweetner. The rest of the milk is boiled and stirred into the blancmange mix. Then this is poured back into the saucepan and the mixture boiled again until it thickens. Once it is ready you have to wait for it to cool down before you pour it over the jelly. Finally when both layers are set I whip double (heavy) cream into stiff peaks, sometimes with a little sweetner. I spoon this on top of the trifle and serve. This makes enough for four to six servings. Tasty treat for dessert.
This is custard powder made up with milk and sweetner with added chocolate. I love making sugar free trifles. I usually use sugar free jelly and add a bit if fruit (used raspberries today) because trifle sponges are covered in sugar. Then I add blancmange when the jelly is set. I have to let it cool because it can re-melt the jelly. But now I can only get blancmange if my sister posts me some (they still sell strawberry flavour where she lives). The trouble is that most people use custard but I don’t like it’s flavour in trifle. This time I did make custard but added four square pieces of no added sugar chocolate and melted it into the milk. I will use this mix and then add whipped cream on top of the trifle to finish it off. But I just wonder if I can make my own with cornflower and flavourings? That would be a lot easier…
Mallaband-Brown