Cheats Christmas Trifle
Get festive ready with this Cheats Christmas Trifle. It’s a centrepiece in itself and It’s going to be a standout on your dining table this Christmas. This trifle is so easy to prepare that you are going to feel like you are cheating!
Such a classic dessert, trifle originates from England and the word “trifle” comes from the French term “trufle.” It means something whimsical or of little consequence. I love that!!
Whenever I see a trifle it makes me think of Christmas! Those beautiful layers of jelly, custard, cake, macerated fruit and smooth cream. Anything goes with a trifle really, you can mix it up and make it your own.
Christmas Day just wouldn’t be complete without trifle, gingerbread cookies, rocky road and tiramisu
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Why I love this trifle!
Christmas is my favourite time of year but it does get pretty crazy in the lead up between decorating and Christmas shopping and attending all the festivities.
Of course I love a trifle with freshly made custard and a home made sponge. However, I want to show you how to make a cheats Christmas trifle that will taste just as good but take half the time!
What goes into this Cheats Christmas Trifle.
You will see that there is still all the classic ingredients you love in a trifle. I’m just taking a few little shortcuts to make life easier.
- Aeroplane jelly; I have used strawberry jelly for this recipe but you can use any flavour or even a combination of flavours. I make the jelly according to the packet instructions but I add an extra 1/3 cup of water so that the jelly is not so sweet. (This is optional and not part of the below recipe)
- Custard; while of course you can make you own and I have done so with many trifles. When you are short on time, store bought is great too. the key is to use a good thick custard like Paul’s vanilla custard Around Christmas time they release a few more variations like the Vanilla bean custard and the brandy custard. So delicious!
- Christmas cake; So you could spend hours baking your own cake or you could use the fruit filled Christmas cake freshly baked from Bakers delight! I picked mine up from Bakers Delight Hoppers Crossing. Adrian & Emma have such a lovely team and they are always up for a chat! It also comes in a pretty tin so its perfect for a gift.
- Chambord liquor is a black raspberry liquor and is so delicious drizzled over the layer of Christmas cake. You can buy a bottle here.
- Fresh Strawberries; I macerate the strawberries to make them taste sweeter and it brings out the lovely juices which will be soaked up by the cake!
- Freshly whipped Chantilly cream; this is just a fancy way of saying whipped cream with sugar and vanilla.
- Fresh berries for decorating
- Caster sugar and hazelnuts for a praline. Don’t let the posh name frighten you this is so easy to make and it looks so pretty shattered over the top for decoration. It also adds a lovely crunch.
Get Creative!
So there are no official rules when it comes to making your trifle. I have a step by step recipe below and once you have the basics you can go crazy. experiment with different layers and textures. You can substitute berries for other fruit such as peaches or mango. You could use sponge cake instead of Christmas cake. Its all about having fun and getting into the Christmas spirit.
This will definitely be a show stopper and your guests are going to love digging into the trifle. Just be sure to get a bit of everything on the plate so you have sweet jelly, creamy custard, rich cake, fresh fruit and thick vanilla cream. What more could you want!!!
Enjoy!
MFM X
Tools to make the job easier
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If you make this recipe be sure to let me know in the comments below and leave a star rating!!
Cheats Christmas Trifle
Ingredients
- 2 Packets strawberry jelly crystals
- 1 Punnet blueberries
- 2 Punnet Strawberries one halved leaving the stems intact, the other hulled and halved
- 2 tbs Caster Sugar
- 60 g Shelled hazelnuts roughly chopped
- 100 g Caster sugar
- 1 Christmas fruit cake see note
- 3 tsp Chambord liquor
- 1 L Thick Custard see note
- 600 ml thickened cream
- 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste
- 1 Punnet Raspberries
- Icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Prepare the jelly as per the packet instructions and careflly pour into the bottom of a trifle bowl approximately 20cm in diameter. Add half the punnet of blueberries to the jelly liquid then place in the fridge to set for 3hrs or overnight.
- Meanwhile, place the punnet of strawberries which you have hulled and halved in a bowl with 1 tbs of caster sugar and leave to macerate at room temperate for at least an hour.
- To make the praline; place a sheet of baking paper onto a baking tray. Spread the hazelnuts over the paper. Heat the caster sugar in a pan over medium heat without stirring. Once the sugar dissolves and liquid turns a deep brown caramel colour remove from heat.Pour the mixture over the hazelnuts. Allow the caramel to cool and set hard, then break into large shards.
- Cut the Christmas fruit cake into squares and arrange the squares over the jelly. Press down gently and then drizzle over the liquor.
- Spoon over the macerated strawberries, then carefully pour over the custard.
- Whip the cream with the vanilla and 1tbs of caster sugar until soft peaks form. Gently spoon the cream over the custard making a high mound in the centre.
- arrange the halved strawberries all around the edge of the trifl bowl, cut side out.
- Garnish with raspberries, remaining blueberries and the hazelnut praline shards. Dust with icing sugar.
WOW WOW WOW, I love the look of this!! I am a sucker for Trifle and I love the Christmassy vibe of this one!
Thank-you so much kay!!!
I really liked this article on building a holiday trifle. I am definitely going to try this at my next get together in a couple of weeks even!
That’s great to hear!! You will have to let me know how it goes 🙂
WOW!!! Not only does it look fantastic it tastes amazing
Too! I made this for my work Christmas party and everyone loved it! Thank you will def make this again!!
Thank you stacey 🙂 🙂
This looks amazing! I Will be making this in the U.S. this weekend 🙂
Thank you!!!