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English Trifle: Our Family Tradition

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If I had to choose one dessert as the most nostalgic for me, that would be this family recipe for English Trifle. Every holiday we would travel to my aunt’s house for a huge feast and a dazzling dessert table covered with homemade chocolate cake, lemon and mincemeat tarts, usually a pie of some sort, and of course, English Trifle. A trifle is a layered dessert that contains custard, sherry-soaked cake, fruit, jam and whipped cream.



A beautiful English Trifle, sherry soaked sponge cake with delicious proper custard! YUM!

This English trifle recipe is one that my family has always loved. Recipes can vary from family to family, but the basic elements remain the same. A sponge cake soaked in spirits layered together with custard, whipped cream, and fruit. I believe one of my aunts used to add banana slices to hers as well!

Old family photo of The Ocingtons - @amandaformaro

I was actually born in England but came to the states when I was just 2 years old. So growing up I was surrounded by words like “blimey” and “rubbish” and other such British terms. This photo was taken shortly after we arrived in the states back in 1969. Two of the children in the photo above were our new friends, the girl in the pink coat and the boy with the red hat. I am in the white coat, my older brother is next to me in the brown coat, and my beautiful mom, God rest her soul, is holding my little brother Michael. I have a few other old family photos in this dedication post I wrote for my mom here: Classic Yellow Cake: Dedicated to the Memory of My Mother

Wonderful recipe for traditional English trifle, complete with cream sherry soaked sponge cake and English custard! Recipe by @amandaformaro



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English Trifle

Over the years, trifles [in America] have been adapted to fit into a family’s tastes. Some use pudding, some don’t include sherry or Madeira wine, but instead non-alcoholic juices, and some even use chocolate and other ingredients. Another reason that the trifle has been adapted is simply out of necessity. English custard can be purchased in a box (Called Bird’s Custard Powder) in the same fashion as American pudding. But it can be difficult to find in many American grocery stores, so people have switched to using what is readily available to them.

I've always wanted to make a trifle! This traditional English Trifle looks divine!

Funny thing is, the English didn’t “invent” the trifle, the Scottish did. The Scots have recipes that date back to the late 1500’s! Of course hundreds of years ago, Scotland and England united to become the United Kingdom, so calling the trifle “English” is fair. ;-) I’m actually half Scottish (my dad was born in the Shetland Isles of Scotland) and half English (mom was born in England, I in Leicester). I still have family in the UK, some in Cornwall, more in Droitwich Spa and others in Canterbury just to name a few!

Can't wait to make this traditional English sherry trifle recipe!

Growing up, my family always used Bird’s Custard Powder in our English trifle. However, it’s hard to find where I live, so I went ahead and made the custard from scratch. I really do love pudding, but for this dessert, I insist on using custard. There’s something about the beautiful aroma of custard that reminds me of the house we lived in before coming to America. I savor it.

The layers in this English trifle recipe are calling my name!

Bird’s custard can be found in some specialty grocery stores, or you can order it online. You can use a purchased cake for this trifle. Most English cooks use a Madeira cake, which is similar to a pound cake in America and was named after the wine that often accompanied it. You can also use ladyfingers, or as they are called in England, trifle fingers. A trifle is made in a similar manner to a tiramisu. I had actually made a white cake and we only used a few pieces, so I used the rest to make my trifle.

I love how gorgeous this trifle came out! Traditional English sherry trifle, can't wait to try it. :)

You will want to make the cake and the custard first. Obviously, if you are using a packaged pound cake or lady fingers, then start with the custard. If you are making a box cake or cake from scratch, be sure to bake that up first. Both the cake and the custard will need to cool before assembling the trifle.

Ingredients for English Trifle

For the custard layer ( or you can use Bird’s Custard! )

  • 4 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch

For the cake layer

  • 9×13 white or yellow cake, baked and cooled
  • 1/2 cup cream sherry
  • 3 heaping tablespoons seedless red raspberry jam or preserves

For the fruit layer

  • 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
  • 1 cup fresh raspberries
  • 1 tablespoon cream sherry
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

Whipped cream

  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Helpful Kitchen Tools


heat the milk, cream and vanilla to make the custard

If you are using Bird’s custard, follow the preparation instructions on the canister. For a custard from scratch, begin by heating the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan. You just want it to come to a simmer, you’ll see steam rising from the surface as well.

combine the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch

Whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch.

after the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch have been whisked together they are a beautiful yellow

It will be all lovely and yellow.

heating the custard is key to it cooking up properly and remaining thick

Next you’ll temper the eggs (follow the instructions in the printable version) and pour everything back into the saucepan to thicken. You need to do it slowly so you don’t burn it, but custard can be finicky, so you need to make sure it heats enough to bubble for several minutes. If it doesn’t bubble long enough, the structure can break down and the custard will turn from thick to runny. The good thing is that if you’ve chilled the custard and it’s lost its thickness, you can put it back on the stove and reheat it to thicken it back up.

I quicken the cooling process by using an ice bath. Fill a large bowl with ice and put the hot custard into a bowl that will fit into the larger bowl. After that’s in there, add some water to the ice to make the ‘bath”. This will chill the outside of the bowl that’s holding the custard, which will help its contents to cool faster.

cut the cake in half horizontally to allow less space for the sherry to soak in

Because you are brushing the cake with sherry, you want the cake pieces to be small enough to soak it up. I sliced my cake in half horizontally.

brush the cake with cream sherry

Place all those pieces cut-side up and brush them with the cream sherry.

spread the sherry soaked cake with jam

Now spread the jam on top.

cut the jam covered sherry soaked cake into small squares

Cut them into small squares.

cut fresh strawberries into slices

I chopped fresh strawberries and used fresh raspberries as well. It’s not uncommon for people to use frozen fruit, thaw it out and macerate it, especially in the winter months when [good] fresh fruit is not readily available. Some English cooks don’t macerate the fruit at all, they just use it as is. Unless I’m getting my berries at their peak season, I tend to macerate them or they are a bit too tart.

As a side note, I added a few new knives to my kitchen tools. I’ve been in the market for something new and several blogger friends recommended Ergo to me. They are a German knife and are ergonomically engineered. So far I absolutely LOVE them! I’ll share more about them as time progresses, but so far so great! The one pictured here is the Ergo Chef CRIMSON Series 6″ Utility knife with G-10 Handle.
macerate the strawberries and raspberries with sherry and sugar

Macerate the sliced berries with sugar and sherry and set aside.

the first layer of trifle is the jam covered sherry soaked cake squares

When you’re ready to assemble the trifle, layer one-third of the cake cubes, jam side up, in the bottom of the trifle dish.

next cover the jam and sherry soaked cake with macerated berries

Cover with one-third of the macerated fruit.

top the macerated berries with custard

Add one-third of the custard.

cover the custard layer with whipped cream

Finally, top with one-third of the whipped cream. Now repeat those layers two more times. Garnish with fresh sliced strawberries or raspberries and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

What a beautiful English trifle! Recipe has step by step photos too.

Final Note
Don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients and instructions. Most of it is because of the homemade custard. If you order Bird’s Custard Powder you can save all that extra time. Enjoy!

More layered desserts

You might also like my English Trifle Cheesecake and this Tiramisu Cheesecake as well! Browse all the dessert recipes here.

If you’d like to try some other trifle versions, here are some to save:

This post was originally published on March 25, 2014.

Traditional English Trifle

Course: Desserts
Cuisine: British
Keyword: custard, trifle
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 12
Calories: 558 kcal
Author: Amanda Formaro

If I had to choose one dessert as the most nostalgic for me, that would be a traditional English Trifle. I love the flavor combinations!

Print

Ingredients

CUSTARD LAYER

  • 4 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 large egg yolks
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch

CAKE LAYER

  • 9x13 white or yellow cake baked and cooled
  • 1/2 cup cream sherry
  • 3 heaping tablespoons seedless red raspberry jam or preserves

FRUIT LAYER

  • 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
  • 1 cup fresh raspberries
  • 1 tablespoon cream sherry
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

WHIPPED CREAM

  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Instructions

For the Custard

  1. Combine the milk, heavy cream and vanilla in a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, stirring frequently. Heat the milk mixture over low-medium heat until it just begins to simmer and steam rises from the surface.
  2. Meanwhile, mix the sugar and cornstarch together with a fork. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar mixture until light and smooth.
  3. HINT: I use my KitchenAid for this, but only as a stand. I hand whisk but use the bowl of the mixer attached to the machine so that I don't have to hold the bowl as well. This allows me to whisk and pour at the same time, which is needed in the next step.
  4. Remove the warmed milk from the stove and while whisking the egg yolks constantly, dribble a few drops at a time into the yolks. Adding the hot liquid very, very slowly in the beginning will temper the eggs, allowing them to warm gradually so that they don't curdle, or worse, scramble! Once you have dribbled in a good amount you can increase the amount of liquid you add at a time, whisking continuously until all the milk has been added.
  5. Pour the contents of the mixer bowl into the saucepan and heat over medium, stirring constantly. Keep stirring, ensuring that the milk mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pan, until thickened, anywhere from 2-6 minutes. Custard will be thick and smooth. Pour into a shallow bowl and cover the top with plastic wrap so that the plastic is touching the surface of the custard. This will prevent a skin from forming on top. Cool in the refrigerator until chilled.

For the Cake

  1. Cut the cake into large manageable squares. Cut those squares in half horizontally. Open the squares so that the cut sides are facing up. Brush the cake with the cream sherry. Spread the sherries cake with the raspberry jam. Cut the cake into cubes.

For the Fruit

  1. In a medium bowl, combine the strawberries, raspberries, sherry and sugar. Stir to coat and allow to macerate. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the trifle.

For the Whipped Cream

  1. Combine the heavy whipping cream and the powdered sugar in a larger mixer bowl. Beat on high for 2 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. Keep chilled in the refrigerator until ready to assemble.

Assemble the Trifle

  1. Place 1/3 of the cake cubes in the bottom of the trifle dish, jam side up. Top the cake cubes with 1/3 of the fruit, followed by 1/3 of the custard and finally with 1/3 of the whipped cream. Repeat layers two more times. Decorate the top with fresh fruit. Keep chilled until ready to serve.
Nutrition Facts
Traditional English Trifle
Amount Per Serving (1 portion)
Calories 558 Calories from Fat 207
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 23g 35%
Saturated Fat 12g 60%
Cholesterol 281mg 94%
Sodium 564mg 24%
Potassium 305mg 9%
Total Carbohydrates 76g 25%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Sugars 48g
Protein 10g 20%
Vitamin A 20.5%
Vitamin C 21%
Calcium 20.7%
Iron 17.4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
If I had to choose one dessert as the most nostalgic for me, that would be a traditional English Trifle. I love the flavor combinations!
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Amanda Formaro

President at Amanda's Creative Studio, Inc.
Amanda Formaro is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four children. She loves to bake, cook, make kid's crafts and create decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen and has appeared online and in print publications many times over the years. She is also a craft book author five times over and product developer as well as the owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com. You can find her on social media by using the buttons to the left!
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Comments

  1. This looks so yummy. My mother-in-law was British of Scottish decent and your trifle recipe is very close to the one she made. She used sponge cake or lady fingers even. We could easily find Bird’s custard in San Diego but not sure about Phoenix. This inspires to me make one. Haven’t had one in years. Thank you for a truly real “English” trifle recipe.

    Reply

    • Thank you Donna! It’s funny how there seem to be TWO “real” English trifles. This one is the one my family always made. Then there’s the one with Jello, which I’ve never had. But I have had some fellow Brits read me the riot act saying mine isn’t right. Haha!

      Reply

  2. Used your recipe this evening to guide my trifle making—thanks! I made the custard from scratch.

    I made it for the birthday of my British friend in my book group…although my husband is British so i’ve made trifle several times and have a trifle bowl. I used strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

    I would suggest making more whipped cream…there wasn’t quite enough for all the layers…and I found it sunk into the custard.

    Thanks!

    Reply

  3. How do I know if the custard is cooked enough? I’m not sure what the texture is supposed to be. Mine isn’t runny or watery but it’s a bit less thick than regular pudding… I can’t find anything online about what texture it should be.
    Please help!

    Thanks!!

    Reply

  4. A real and better trifle is not complete without a layer or two of jelly, raspberry red or lime green, over the cake layers.
    One can also use whiskey or some liquer to saok the cake instead of the sherry to give the trifle extra richness and more tasty.

    I loved trifles before I went on a diet, there’s too much sugar and fat in most deserts of this kind.

    Reply

  5. Hello,

    I am making this recipe for an afternoon tea gathering at my home. How many people does this recipe serve? Also, I was thinking about making individual serving cups instead of one large one because I was worried it would difficult or messy to dish out to each guest. My thought is that if I make it in individual cups, then it would be better to make fewer layers in each cup, is this correct? Thanks! This looks delicious.

    Reply

    • It might be hard to make this in individual cups. If you do, I would use tall dishes so you can get all the layers in. But yes you are correct, you may need less layers in individual cups. Hope you enjoy it!

      Reply

  6. Amanda,
    Thanks for the recipe. I made it for Christmas Eve and raised my family’s low expectations far too high. They’re going to expect things now.
    I used lady fingers, but made the custard and whipped cream. I also used blackberries/blueberries/raspberries/strawberries as my fruit, but no banana. I didn’t want it to brown. It was light and delicious.

    Reply

  7. Hi!

    I’d like to make this trifle, but I don’t want to use any alcohol. Can I just omit it or do I need to replace it with something?

    Also, the jam I have at home has seeds – Is that a problem?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Hi Amy. The sherry is what gives this trifle its distinct flavor. However, if you need to substitute it, I would try maybe a sparkling grape juice? Please note, I have never tried that so while in theory it will work, I’m not sure what the flavor would be.

      Reply

  8. My british mother made her trifle just as you have. It was so delicious, it’s been my favorite dessert ever since. She was a wonderful cook. She is still with us, just doesn’t cook any more. She used to make wedding cakes, (traditional fruitcake), big English roast dinners, mince pies all from scratch. Her food was the best.

    Reply

  9. put your recipes in a printer friendly way so that we can print and keep and use forever, I was going to print this, but it would have been 22 pages. and that I don’t need. Made Pavlova for Christmas dinner. so just happened to have 8 egg yolks left over and some very boozy Christmas type pound cake that I dosed with makers mark, should be yummy,

    Reply

    • Hi Judy, there is a printer friendly version, it’s at the very end of the blog post. All you need to do is press “Print Recipe”. Hope that helps!

      Reply

    • Hi Judy! Actually there is a printer friendly option at the bottom of every one of my posts. :) Scroll to the end and click on the Print button and you will only get one page ;)

      Reply

  11. Great recipe, that entertained 4 Brits (myself included) here in California today. I used 2 US pints of milk, with 5 tablespoons of Birds custard powder. That’s more powder than recommended, but it made the custard extra thick.
    I couldn’t help tinkering with the recipe a bit, in pursuit of memories of trifle from childhood:
    1) I added two eggs to the custard once it had fully thickened: beat the eggs in whatever bowl you prepared the custard powder in, then add some of the hot custard back, bit by bit, but combining vigorously with the eggs, so that they don’t cook before fully dispersing into the custard. Then pour back into the pan you thickened the custard in and heat and stir it for a couple more minutes, to make sure the eggs are cooked. This makes for a much more creamy tasting custard, and was a trick used by my mother and grandmothers back in England.
    2) I also subbed out most of the strawberries for two cans of fruit cocktail. This is found by the canned peaches and pears in most American supermarkets. It’s the one with peeled grapes and the occasional maraschino cherry in each can, and usually comes in some kind of heavy syrup, even if it is made from fruit juice. Not as classy as all fresh fruit, but another very common take on trifle, dating back to post-war Britain, when canned fruit would have been more plentiful than fresh at Christmas time. With this in the mix, you probably don’t need to macerate the fresh fruit. Add in some amount of the syrup to help get the sponge cake nice and soggy. How much to add will depend on how much cake you use and how dry it is. (If I were using jello in the trifle, I’d add all of the syrup from both cans into the jello, replacing the same volume of water from the jello recipe.)
    3) I cut two bananas into discs and stirred them into the custard. I waited for the custard to do this, for a more restrained banana flavor, but you can do it while the custard is hot (and/or use more ripe bananas) for a more banana-infused custard flavor.

    Reply

    • Hi Jon! I am so happy that you all enjoyed this recipe so much! Thanks for all the insight, especially on the custard. I wouldn’t have thought you use fruit cocktail, but so glad it worked out so well for you. hope you had a Merry Christmas!

      Reply

  12. I’m making this on Christmas Eve for my half-British children! Can’t wait to eat it tomorrow. Your custard recipe is divine! Im not a great cook, but even I managed this. I used lady fingers from the Italian deli. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

  13. Hi Amanda, I just joined your newsletter, and I wanted to mention , the real deal IS the Birds Custard, and also, you forgot to tell your members that there can also be a layer of Jello/jelly to the Brits. I am Scottish, so maybe the Jelly was a Scottish custom. All that aside, a great dessert any time of year. Dave

    Reply

    • Hi Dave! Yes it’s interesting that there are two different versions of traditional English trifle. I have actually received praise from many and been yelled at by many! Haha – Merry Christmas!

      Reply

  14. I do have some Bird’s Custard Powder but am not sure how much of it to make. The recipe on the can uses 1 pint of milk. It looks like your recipe calls for 4 cups of milk. So, I guess I should double the Bird’s Custard Powder recipe. eh?

    Reply

    • I really should make this recipe with the Bird’s Custard powder so that I could accurately answer this question. I think that’s a good estimation (doubling it) – there are only two results… you’ll end up with too much which you can store in the fridge and eat later, or not enough and you’ll have to make a little more. :)

      Reply

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