Method

Berry Jelly

Bloom the gelatine leaves in ice water.

Scrape the vanilla beans out of the vanilla pod and mix them into the castor sugar.

Place a medium-sized saucepan on a high heat and bring the juice and sugar to scalding temperature, remove from the heat and add the gelatine. Select either one serving dish, or individual dishes – pour in and then place in the fridge to set.

Note: If the raspberry or strawberry juice is sweetened, then leave the sugar out of the recipe.

Victoria Sponge

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Grease and line a baking tray.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a food processor until pale, light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time and mix in well after each addition.

Sieve the flour and baking powder together, fold into the butter mixture.

Pour batter into the lined baking tray and bake for approx 15 – 20 mins until a skewer comes out clean.

Pastry Cream (Custard)

Place the milk in a medium-sized pot over a medium heat. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod, add to the milk and bring to the boil.

Mix the cornflour into the sugar and whisk together with the eggs.

When the milk comes to the boil, pour it slowly, in a steady stream over the egg mixture, stirring constantly.

Strain the mixture back into the saucepan and place back on a medium heat; bring the custard mixture to boiling point, stirring constantly. The mixture should be nice and thick, but smooth and shiny when removed from the heat. Take care not to scramble the mixture.

Remove from the saucepan straight away and place into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and cool at room temperature. Your plastic wrap should touch the cream – this prevents it from forming a skin.

Berries

To macerate the berries, toss in vanilla sugar and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

To Assemble

Layer the trifle as follows – place the macerated berries on top of the jelly, which has already been set in your selected bowl or individual dishes. Cut the cooled Victoria sponge into cubes and toss in a little Crème de Cassis or Van der Hum liqueur®. Place the sponge on top of the berries. Pipe the cooled pastry cream over the sponge, top with whipped cream and garnish with a few fresh berries.

For the modern approach set the jelly in a shallow lined tray. Tear the Victoria sponge and toss in Crème de cassis or Van der Hum® liqueur. Macerate berries for 10 mins. Place the cream and custard into piping bags with round nozzles. Cut the jellies into a few different sized circles using small cookie cutters or something similarly shaped. Place the jelly rounds on the plate, place the torn sponge on top of the jellies, pipe the custard and cream randomly in-between the sponge and jellies. Place the macerated fruit in amongst the piped cream and custard and create a plate that is visually beautiful.