A Summer Trifle with Strawberries and Strawberry Purée

Cheating at trifle has become second nature for me (a) because I’ve always loved trifle and (b) because the sublime combination of 2 key ingredients which takes only seconds replaces beautifully the slog and time spent making a proper custard with cream and egg yolks. Our two star performers are a tub of ready-made custard and a tub of Italian mascarpone which, combined, taste magically as good as the real thing. So smitten am I that I now have about 5 new trifle recipes. This one is the summer version with luscious ripe strawberries but watch this space for other versions in the future. Finally, another clear standby ingredient is Madeira: it does put trifle into another class and whilst I’m actually a very enthusiastic sherry drinker, when it comes to trifle Madeira always gets my vote.

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  Serves 6

Ingredients
5 trifle sponges
2 rounded tablespoons strawberry jam
4 fl oz (120 ml) Madeira
12 oz (350 g) fresh ripe strawberries, thickly sliced
½ level tablespoon golden caster sugar
1 x 250 g tub mascarpone
1 x 500 ml tub fresh ready-made custard (preferablySainsbury's)
1 tablespoon toasted flaked almonds
1 vanilla pod

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This recipe first appeared in You magazine

Method

First of all cut the trifle sponges in half lengthways, spread each half with strawberry jam, then re-form them and cut each one into 3 little sandwiches. Now arrange them in a 3 pint (1.75 litre) trifle bowl. Then make a few stabs in the sponges and sprinkle the Madeira or sherry carefully and evenly over them, then leave it all aside for half an hour so it can soak in.

After that sprinkle half the strawberries over the top of the trifle sponges, pushing some down in amongst them. Then put the rest into a Mini Chopper (see How To Cheat Equipment Hero, below) or food processor along with the sugar, whiz to a purée then drizzle the purée over the strawberries.

Meanwhile, empty the custard into a jug, split the vanilla pod lengthways and, using a teaspoon, scrape the seeds into the custard and mix together. Now empty the mascarpone into a bowl, give it a whisk to soften it, then add the custard, a little at a time, whisking them together till thoroughly blended.

Next spoon the mixture evenly over the top of the strawberries and lastly sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds. Now you need to cover the dish with clingfilm and make sure it is well chilled before serving, up to two hours is ideal.

How To Cheat Hero Ingredients
500 ml tub Sainsbury's fresh ready-made custard
250 g tub mascarpone

How To Cheat Equipment Hero
Kenwood CH180 Mini Chopper Available from Woolworths, Argos, larger Boots stores, Sainsbury’s, House of Fraser, Allders and Safeway Delia says, 'If you want to short-circuit lots of tedious chopping and knife sharpening, I’m really enthusiastic about this ingenious mini food processor. 1 tablespoon chopped parsley: 2 seconds, ¾ packet watercress: 4-5 seconds, a finely chopped onion… you name it – thousands of fast little processes that save you time.'

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