Centre stage

6 min read

Let everyone help themselves to these stunning crowd-pleasers, perfect for setting down at the heart of your Christmas table

RECIPES SARAH AKHURST

SERVES 10-12

V HANDS-ON TIME 20 mins

TOTAL TIME 55 mins, plus cooling and chilling

CHRISTMAS CAKE TRIFLE

◆ 3 unpeeled pears, cored and cut into chunky slices

◆ 6 plums, stoned and quartered

◆ 120ml sherry* (any type)

◆ 1 tsp ground cinnamon

◆ 6 fresh figs, quartered

◆ 500g thick custard

◆ 800g Christmas cake (without icing), sliced

◆ 600ml double cream

◆ zest of 1 orange

◆ 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

For the orange caramel sauce

◆ juice of 3 oranges (about 125ml)

◆ 125g caster sugar

◆ 25g butter

◆ 75ml single cream

1 Put the pears and plums in a large saucepan with half of the sherry and all of the cinnamon. Bring to a simmer and cook for 12-14 minutes, until starting to soften. Add the figs for the final 2 minutes. When all the fruits have softened, remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

2 To make the sauce, put the orange juice and caster sugar in a pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer gently for 18-20 minutes, or until dark golden in colour. Add the butter and single cream and whisk to combine to a caramel sauce, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.

3 To build the trifle, first spoon about a quarter of the custard into a trifle bowl then layer in slices of Christmas cake and drizzle with half of the remaining sherry. Reserve 90ml of the orange caramel sauce and then pour the rest over the sherry-poached fruit. Spoon two-thirds of this fruit mixture over the cake in the trifle bowl and then pour in the rest of the sherry. Spoon the remaining custard on top and chill in the fridge for an hour.

4 Whip the double cream with the orange zest and vanilla and then spoon and swirl over the custard. Leave to chill for a couple of hours.

5 Remove the trifle from the fridge about 20 minutes before serving. Top with the rest of the fruit and orange caramel sauce to serve. *Check your chosen sherry is vegetarian, if required.

PER SERVING (1 OF 10)

779cals; 46g fat (28g sat fat); 7g protein; 4g fibre; 83g carbs (of which 69g sugars); 0.4g salt

FOOD STYLING: KIM MORPHEW. PROP STYLING: MORAG FARQUHAR

SERVES 6-8

HANDS-ON TIME 15 mins

This article is from...

Sainsbury's Magazine

29 November 2023

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