Carola Dunn was born and grew up in England but has
lived in the US for the past 50 years or so. In spite of this, almost all her
books are set in England, including twenty-three mysteries in the 1920’s era
Daisy Dalrymple series, four Cornish Mysteries set around 1970, thirty-two
Regency novels, and four collections of Regency novellas. Learn more about
Carola and her books at her website.
Holiday Trifle
Trifle is an English dessert
dating from 1598 (first citation in print according to the OED). At that time
the word referred to a mixture of cream boiled with other ingredients, more
like what we call a “fool” today. By 1755, it was much like what we know today
as trifle. My Aunt Margery (actually a second cousin a few time removed) used
to make trifle for the holidays. I don't have her recipe, and in fact, I don't
use a recipe at all, but this is how I make it yearly for Christmas Eve dinner
with friends.
I have to say, the first time I brought it on Christmas Eve,
it was looked at askance by a few who aren't into desserts--but they are the
ones who came back for more!
Ingredients – exact quantities are unimportant—guidelines below
Plain cake—I've used angel
food from a mix, and bakery pound cake, but the most popular was homemade
sponge cake that was actually a complete failure—the two layers each came out
about 3/8” thick. For some things you really have to follow the recipe!
Raspberries—I freeze my own
every summer, but this is one time frozen work better, because they have lots
of juice. (Some people use
jam/jelly or jelly/jello, unsatisfactory in my opinion, or soak the cake in
sherry, which I don't care for.)
Custard—I use Bird's Custard
Powder, but vanilla pudding is more or less equivalent.
Whipped cream—Here I'm
really fussy. Spray can cream does NOT work. Even grocery store whipping cream,
which usually comes full of thickeners such as carrageen, is not that great. I
use heavy cream (unadulterated) from a local dairy, or Trader Joe has an
excellent heavy cream. If you love whipped cream, you probably have your own
source.
Glacé cherries for
decoration—or fresh raspberries if available.
Trifle is attractive in a
glass bowl, but any bowl—preferably flat-bottomed—works well. The bowl in the
photos is 6-1/4” x 3-1/4” deep. I made two roughly the same size using about ¾
of a small pound cake, a 12 oz bag of frozen raspberries, a pint of custard,
and a ½ pint of cream. It would be enough for 6 or 8 people. Or it can be made
in individual glasses such as sundae glasses.
Place slices of cake about
1” to 1½” deep in bottom of small bowl or 2 to 2½ in large bowl. I fill in gaps
with scraps of cake.
Pour juice from bag more or
less evenly over cake to soak in. Distribute berries in an even layer on top.
Make custard or pudding.
Cool slightly (so it doesn't cook the berries) and pour on top before it
completely thickens.
Chill.
Whip cream till really
stiff—beyond stiff peaks (but don't let it turn into butter!) unless you're
going to serve the trifle immediately and you know there won't be any left
over. Even with the best cream, stiff peaks will weep after a few hours. Good
cream doesn't need any flavouring. If you have to use grocery store whipping
cream, you might want to flavour it with a spoonful of powdered sugar and/or a
drop of vanilla.
Spread on top of cooled
custard. Decorate.
Serve with a large spoon (a
cake server doesn't work well), preferably in glass bowls.
Enjoy!
The Corpse at the Crystal Palace
A Daisy Dalrymple Mystery, Book 23
April 1928: Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher is visited in London by her young
cousins. On the list of must-see sites is the Crystal Palace. Discovering that
her children's nanny, Nanny Gilpin, has never seen the Palace, Daisy decides to
make a day of it―bringing her cousins, her 3-year-old twins, her step-daughter
Belinda, the nurserymaid, and Nanny Gilpin. Yet this ordinary outing goes wrong
when Mrs. Gilpin goes off to the ladies’ room and fails to return. When Daisy
goes to look for her, she doesn't find her nanny but instead the body of
another woman dressed in a nanny's uniform.
Meanwhile, Belinda and the cousins spot Mrs. Gilpin chasing after yet
another nanny. Intrigued, they trail the two through the vast Crystal Palace
and into the park. After briefly losing sight of their quarry, they stumble
across Mrs. Gilpin lying unconscious in a small lake inhabited by huge concrete
dinosaurs.
When she comes to, Mrs. Gilpin can't remember what happened after
leaving the twins in the nurserymaid's care. Daisy's husband, Detective Chief
Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, finds himself embroiled in the
investigation of the murdered nanny. Worried about her children's own injured
nanny, Daisy is determined to help. First she has to discover the identity of
the third nanny, the presumed murderer, and to do so, Daisy must uncover why
the amnesic Mrs. Gilpin deserted her charges to follow the missing third nanny.
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6 comments:
I'm appreciate your writing skill. Please keep on working hard. Thanks
Thank you, Kate.
I used dipped ladyfingers and that works pretty well too. Thanks for sharing - guess what I'm making for Christmas?
Enjoy, Dani! I just bought a huge bag of frozen raspberries at Grocery Outlet for the one I'll be making--40 oz for $3.99! Most places you can't get 10 oz for that.
Thank you, Carola, for the delicious recipe. I’ll be serving it at a New Year’s Eve square dance in Milwaukie, Oregon. Big thanks and hugs for entertaining me so thoroughly with your writing. Happy holidays, Janice
You'll be popular taking trifle! Thanks for the kind words.
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