Merely a trifle too.

So finally, the trifle...

It's taken me long enough, hasn't it.

A trifle is described by wikipedia as "a dessert dish made from thick (or often solidified) custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or, more recently, jelly (gelatin), and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top.
Some trifles contain a small amount of alcohol such as port, or, most commonly, sweet sherry or madeira wine. Non-alcoholic versions use fruit juice instead, as the liquid is necessary to moisten the cake." So there you go...

My trifle consisted of swiss roll, semi-sweet sherry, apricot syrup, port wine jelly, vanilla custard, whipped cream, flake and strawberries for garnish... One of them also had stewed apricots in it.

So a success all round? Well, almost...except for my husband who complained about the whipped cream on the top, and apparently I had the jelly and the custard the wrong way around. Everyone else, including those who don't normally partake of trifle enjoyed it. Apparently, it was much more pleasant that the variety that used to be made by our next door neighbour. But not my husband...stubborn man. It was good, but not great.

That night he got some kind of food poisoning, and was, jokingly, convinced it was the trifle... bah humbug, because everyone else who ate it was fine.

To add insult to injury, when I was explaining my culinary triumph and my quest for trifle recipes, his mother told me that it was just swiss roll, sherry, custard and jelly. No fruit, no whipped cream, no nothing.

So next time I venture into the murky trifle waters for my husband it will be the least exciting and ordinary of trifles...a store bought swiss roll, store bought custard, covered by store bought jelly... it will be merely a trifle indeed.