RECIPE > RED FRUIT TRIFLE

Continuing the theme of baking whatever is being baked on the GBBO, this week I have baked trifle! In all honesty, I had never been a fan of trifle when I was a kid. Which is strange because I enjoyed all the ingridients individually, but for some reason couldn't enjoy them combined. However, I have got past my trifle-based issues and I am now all in favour of supporting the great British trifle! My recipe is based on the the summer fruits I picked this year (a lot of which I've frozen), which include mostly cherries; from my garden and a handful of raspberries. You can choose different red fruits or use these and mix up the ratio of raspberries to cherries, it's really up to you! Also my trifle recipe is very small as it's only catering for my little family (3-4 large portions), double up on quantities for more people!

Firstly, warm 150ml of milk and 150ml of double cream in a pan. Meanwhile whisk 4 egg yolks with 40g of caster sugar. Once the milk/cream mix has warmed up, pour into the egg yolk/sugar mix, whisking continously. Getting a clean pan, quickly put this mix back into the pan and warm over a low heat, continuing to whisk. Be patient, as the mix will take a while to thicken. Once this has thickened, make the brandy-vanilla infusion by heating 30ml of brandy with the seeds of a vanilla pod (you can also use extract depending on what's in your cupboard). Let this bubble away for a few minutes then leave to cool. Once cooled, you can mix this in with the custard.

Trifle: not the most elegant of the desserts

Now make mini jam sandwiches with some best-quality cherry jam and a pack of 4 trifle sponges. You can use these babies to line the bottom of your trifle bowl (or if you're Deborah from GBBO- a giant cocktail glass). Pour over 40ml of brandy and allow to soak. Have a shot of brandy as a congratulations for reading this far. This is when you add your fruit, so for me it was 300g of stoned cherries and 100g of raspberries. Then pour over the custard, cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge for a day or so.

When ready to serve, whip 250ml of double cream until thickened, pile this to make a layer over the custard. Boil a tablespoon of water, half the juice of a lemon and a tablespoon of cherry jam to make a syrup. Artistically drizzle this over your trifle, then add a handful (tablespoon or so) of toasted almonds to finish. Next week is pies! I'm so excited!