12 months of birthdays

SERVES 4 Ingredients 125g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing120g dark chocolate, broken into small piecesPinch of sea salt100g Amarena cherries, roughly chopped, plus3 tbsp of the cherry syrup10

MAKES 16-20 pieces PREP 20 mins plus 3 hrs chilling COOK 8 mins EASY 50g butter, plus extra for the tin400g blonde white chocolate (or use500g regular white chocolate),broken into pieces100g white cho

Chat’s big birthday is the perfect time to bake these showstoppers

IN LIEU OF A TRADITIONAL DESSERT, TRY ONE OF HELEN’S FESTIVE ALTERNATIVES

If you are able to serve this in a glass dish then all the better, because part of the magic of a trifle is to see and enjoy all the different layers. This Anglo-Italian variation on the theme of trif

For those who think they don’t like trifle, forget rubbery jelly, soggy fruit, mushy sponge and sickly sweetness. We’ve omitted the jelly and used florentine between the layers for chewy crunch. Poach