Trifles are one of the most exciting things to eat. I can imagine digging a long spoon into a tall glass and your mouth full of cake, custard, jelly, fruits and a lot of other unhealthy things that make a great dessert. Today, I decided to do a trifle with hot milk cake, custard, jelly and loads of fruit; really classic, really fun. What surprises me about the trifle is that hot milk cake. Adding hot milk definitely makes a huge difference, it’s really moist almost like a yoghurt cake and has a really child-like delight to it. I initially wasn’t planning on posting this because I had another dish in mind, but when I had all the ingredients, I said why not? This disappears in a jiffy, but that’s a real pity because this trifle is almost a two day process from making the cake to the custard to setting the jelly. Remember, the longer it’s chilled the better it tastes, so it is better to do this in advance!

Hot milk cake:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ cup+ 2 tbsp. milk
• 70 gm butter, softened

In a small pot on low heat, melt the butter in the milk. Beat the eggs on high speed until they are thick and lemon coloured. Gradually add in the sugar, beating on medium speed until incorporated and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, followed by the flour and baking powder. Beat on a low speed until incorporated. Once the butter has completely melted in the milk, let it cool for about a minute before mixing into the batter. Pour the cake batter in a prepared 9’’ round pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180˚C for about 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool down completely.

Custard:

• 3 egg yolks
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tsp corn starch
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together eggs, corn starch, sugar and salt in a bowl. Bring up cream and milk on a pan. Combine both mixtures together and stir on medium heat for about 3 minutes. At this point, remove the pan from the heat at 20-30 second intervals until a thick and luscious cream forms. Pass through sieve, combine the vanilla. Cool down slightly until warm.

Jelly:

• 3 cups orange juice
• 6 tsp. gelatine

Pour ½ cup of orange juice into a heatproof bowl and evenly sprinkle the gelatine on top. Set aside until spongy. Put a large pan with 1 ½ inches deep of water on boil. Once the water reaches a boil, remove from heat and lower the orange juice and gelatine bowl into the water (make sure the water reaches halfway up the sides of the bowl) and stir until completely dissolved. Cool slightly then stir in the rest of the juice. Strain and empty into a bowl. Refrigerate for about 4 hours until set. Dice the jelly into small cubes.

Assembly:

• Pomegranate
• Orange, diced
• Apple, diced
• 1 mango, diced
• 1/2 a banana, sliced
• 1 cherry

Start by placing small cubes of the cake at the bottom of a tall glass. Top with a layer of custard followed by a layer of jelly and pomegranate. Repeat two more times. Top the last layer of pomegranate with the orange, mango, apple, banana and cherry. Refrigerate before serving. The longer it chills, the better it tastes!

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