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“Rather egotistically, I consider myself the trifle queen!” says Prue Leith. “Any leftover cake, croissants, brioche, panettone or raisin bread in our house ends up spread with a suitable, sweet spread (jam, honey, Nutella), soaked in a compatible booze (sherry, brandy, rum, fruit or coffee liqueur), and sunk in lashings of custard and cream.
“I’m not above using bought cake and custard either. And I love to decorate the top with a colourful mixture of the traditional trifle toppings (glacé cherries, angelica, walnuts) or more modern ones, like freeze-dried raspberries, fresh fruit and edible flowers.
“Indeed, I mostly just assemble anything I can from the larder and pile the lot on – and I think it looks wonderful.”
Dark chocolate and orange trifle
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
4 large oranges
3 tbsp Cointreau or other orange liqueur
300g 70% dark chocolate
500ml double cream
50g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 chocolate Swiss roll (about 250g)
500ml vanilla custard
Method:
1. Segment the oranges, keeping any juice separately from the segments.
2. Add the Cointreau or other orange liqueur to the juice.
3. Roughly chop 250 grams of the dark chocolate, then melt it in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is smooth and fully melted. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
4. Whip 200 mililitres of the cream with the sugar and vanilla until it will just hold its shape.
5. Fold the melted chocolate into the whipped cream until combined, creating a rich chocolate mousse.
6. Cut the Swiss roll into one centimetre-thick slices and use two thirds of them to line the bottom and sides of a deep trifle bowl.
7. Pour half of the orange-juice mixture over the Swiss-roll layer
8. Spread the chocolate mousse over the cake.
9. Arrange the segmented oranges over the mousse, keeping a few back for garnish.
10. Add another layer of Swiss-roll slices, then drizzle them with the remaining orange-juice mixture.
11. Pour the custard all over, spreading it out evenly.
12. Whip the remaining cream until it will just hold its shape (the soft peaks stage).
13. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the remaining chocolate to create chocolate curls for decoration. Or simply grate it.
14. Top the trifle with the whipped cream, remaining orange segments and a sprinkle of chocolate.
15. Chill in the fridge, preferably for two to three hours, or overnight, which gives the dessert time to set. (Although, it will still taste terrific if you have to eat it straight away.)
‘Life’s Too Short To Stuff A Mushroom’ by Prue Leith (Carnival, £25).
