It’s in the wee final hours of the Royal Wedding and I simply can’t take it any longer! Every time I hear a wedding chime, or hear the word “wedding”, “Royal”, “William”, “Kate” – my ears perk up and I drop everything I’m doing just to see what I could have possibly missed. This whole thing needs to be over so that I can move on with my life. Ben is at his wits end. Don’t know how he’s kept composed for so long. Bless him.
For the last recipe I wanted to find the ultimate in traditional English desserts, and a Sherry Trifle seemed appropriate. Now there were plenty of recipes to choose from that were also so typically, “English”, from Eton Mess, a Jelly, a biscuit cake like Kirsten from Comfortably Domestic made (Gawd, I love this lady! She speaks to me) but a trifle just seemed to be “it”.
I searched high and low through the online universe for the quintessential english trifle and I stumbled upon it at BBC Recipes. Bless them. Over there amongst the laundry list of various trifles, was the Traditional English Trifle by Rick Stein. The only difficulty here was translating a couple of things like 3 oz of butter into a unit that an American can actually use. 3 oz of butter translated into 6 Tablespoons and 3 oz of caster sugar if 6 1/2 Tablespoons. Thanks English, let me take over from here.
For the Grocery List he required:
~ 3 oz ( 6 Tbsp) Butter, room temp.
~ 3 oz (6 1/2 Tbsp) Baker’s Sugar
~ 2 medium egg
~ 4 1/2 oz Self-Raising Flour
~ 3 Tbsp Whole Milk
~ 1/2 lemon zest
Start with your oven at 350 and grease a loaf pan. Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in one egg at a time, tossing in 1 Tablespoon of the flour in with the last egg to prevent curdling.
After folding in the flour and adding the milk,
I added in the glorious lemon zest. Really, is there anything lemon zest can’t go? That’s what I thought.
This will be another thick English batter, so make sure to spread it out level in the pan.
After baking it for 30 minutes, it was ready to go.
I wanted to make the most out of the small loaf, serving Ben, Beka (who is coming over tonight for the Royal Wedding Fiasco Live!), and myself.
Normally, I would go all out and make my own Devon Custard as well. And yes, I did buy all of the proper stuff to make it, double cream and all. But really, buying it in the can worked just fine for me!!
So here I was being lazy and crackin’ a can. I’ll own up to it. At least you can’t tell me I’m hidin’ things from ya.
I laid out a little cutout of madeira in each trifle dish,
covered it in raspberry jam,
dumped a little sherry over the top,
and a giant dollop of custard. Lather, rinsing and repeating the process with another layer of cake, etc.
Look at that baby. It’s taking everything I have not to dive into it as well speak. But I will allow it the three hours of rest before I lick the dish clean. Don’t judge me.
And now – to avoid hoovering this positively yummy dessert – a nap is in order. My alarm is set and my fascinator is waiting to be thrown into my hair.
How am I expected to sleep at all with this excitement? Any bets on whether Kate is getting any sleep at all tonight? I think an Ambien would be in order. I’ll just have a glass of champagne myself.
Cheers!!
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Yay! What a beautiful dessert! Wish I could be there with you and Beka…I'll be watching it in the morning because I need my rest for the royal feast I'm planning tomorrow!
This dessert looks awesome. Such a great way to celebrate!
That looks so good! You are so festive. 🙂 Have a great weekend!
Your trifle looks just beautiful. And honestly, I've been thinking about your fascinator ALL day – I think that you beat most of the ladies at Westminster.
Happy Royal Wedding Day!
I LOVE TRIFLE! My Aunt makes it the best. I remember one Christmas eating it and there was so much booze in it I think my 12 year old self got a little tipsy!
We only ever make trifle when we have left over sponge cake, cause it works better a tad stale. Fresh raspberries always make it better too! Nothing beats the sponge, sherry, raspberries and Birds Custard!!
You amaze me! This is such a gorgeous little dessert and it looks delicious.
Every time I hear trifle all I can think about is that Friends episode where Rachel makes a trifle for dessert on Thanksgiving and she puts meat in it haha
Yours obviously turned out fantastic though!
I don't care if it comes from a can or not–custard makes the world go 'round. Beautiful job! I had fun "watching" the wedding with you! 😉