Tiramisu Trifle

No Meal Planning Monday for me today as I've had a busy couple of weeks and feel all cooked out. I know that tonight we're having Souffled Macaroni Cheese and tomorrow it's the Roasted Pepper, Pancetta and Mascarpone Risotto that I never got around to making last week but beyond that it's anyone's guess!

Instead, though, I can tell you about this fantastic Tiramisu Trifle that I made at the weekend. This is just perfect for high days and holidays at any time of year. I've made it many times at Christmas and it went down very well at our outdoor barbeque yesterday.

The custard and mascarpone make it rich and creamy and the Amaretto/coffee combination make it smell amazing and taste even better. Oh, and of course it's easy to make too!

Tiramisu Trifle

(adapted from Good Food Magazine, January 2003)

1/2 pint/300ml strong coffee

6 fl oz/175ml amaretto

500g tub mascarpone

500g fresh vanilla custard

9 oz/250g sponge fingers

3 oz/85g dark chocolate, chopped, plus extra to decorate

4 tbsp toasted flaked almonds

1) Pour the coffee and Amaretto into a wide dish.

2) Whisk the mascarpone and custard together using a hand whisk or blender.

3) Take a third of the biscuits and dip each one in the coffee/Amaretto mixture and then place in the bottom of a 2 litre serving dish.

4) Sprinkle a third of the grated chocolate over the biscuit layer and then follow with a third of the mascarpone and custard mixture. Repeat this process twice more to create three distinct layers.

5) Place the trifle in the fridge and leave for at least two hours or overnight.

6) Just before serving, sprinkle the trifle with the almonds and extra chopped chocolate.

Serves 8 - 10 generously

A Christmas Trifle

I recently came across a request on the UKFBA website calling for volunteers willing to get creative and come up with an alternative use for the traditional Christmas pudding.

The competition was set by Matthew Walker Christmas Puddings, who are reputably the World's Oldest Christmas Pudding Maker and have trademarked their 'Recipe 13' 'The Perfect Christmas Pudding Recipe'!

So my puddings arrived, handsomely packaged in brown, gold and green and I set to thinking what to make. The Christmas pudding is pretty much the complete package really and apart from a jug of custard it doesn't really need anything adding to it. So my thoughts turned for possible uses for leftovers. Cake....leftovers......trifle! I can't say I've considered putting christmas pudding in a trifle before and I can't recall anyone else doing so either but it was worth a go.

Trifle is a pretty simple combination of cake, fruit, custard and cream but what fruit to use? Well, this is a Christmas trifle and nothing says Christmas to me like citrus fruit so oranges seemed the best option. It's also traditional to add a swig of something alcoholic to the layer of cake, however as Christmas puddings are alcoholic by design I decided not add anything extra. Don't let that put you off adding a little splash of something if you fancy it though.

So, decision made....I was ready to go.

Well, the result was delicious! It was far better than I'd hoped and I will, without question, be making this again at Christmas. I may well even buy an extra pudding in case I'm not left with sufficient leftovers on the day. I assembled the trifle while the pudding and the custard were still warm to great effect however the small amount that I somehow managed not to eat straight away was still gorgeous a while later from the fridge.

Here's the recipe...

Christmas Pudding Trifle

Serves 1 (but can easily be scaled up)

100g Christmas pudding

1 orange, segmented

50-100ml custard

50-1ooml double cream, whipped to soft peaks

Mixed peel or flaked almonds to decorate

1) Break the pudding into bite sized pieces and line the bottom of a small dish or ramekin

2) Place the orange segments in a layer on top of the pudding

3) Layer the custard over the orange and top with cream

4) Decorate with mixed peel or flaked almonds.

Enjoy!