I’ve tried to reinvent the wheel but making this trifle cake… It’s different but in a good way.
When I made this cake, I tried to take the elements from traditional trifle but reinvent the parts that couldn’t be transferred into cake form. So, I started with 2 layers of custard cake, filled and coated with freshly whipped cream – filled with a creme patisserie and strawberry jam filling, sounds alright, doesn’t it!
This wasn’t one of those last minute creations I made while trying to make something for the Queens Platinum Jubilee, unfortunately this was made all the way back in January this year and somehow, I forgot all about it until just days before the event and I didn’t have time to edit a video and make a blog post but now I do.
Although a little late for the Queens celebrations, its in time for whenever you need to make a trifle inspired cake.
Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?
Ingredients:
Cake:
250g butter, at room temp.
250g granulated sugar.
4 eggs.
250g plain flour.
1.5 tsp baking powder.
Pinch of salt.
30g custard powder (plus enough milk to combine everything well).
1-2 tsp vanilla extract.
Custard filling:
250ml whole milk.
1 tsp vanilla extract.
60g egg yolk.
50g granulated sugar.
30g plain flour.
Fresh Cream Coating:
600ml double cream.
50-100g icing sugar.
1-2 tsp vanilla extract.
Decoration:
Custard filling.
Strawberry jam.
Rainbow sprinkles.
Method:
Cake:
To get started on the cake, get all of your equipment ready, including a stand mixer and spatula. Don’t forget to weigh up all of your ingredients, along with preheating the oven to 180˚c/350˚f.
To start, take the mixing bowl and place in the butter and sugar, beating them together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency. This usually takes me about 7-10 minutes, depending on how warm the atmosphere is.
Once they have achieved the right consistency, add in the eggs, one at time, beating well to incorporate the egg before adding another.
Then you can give the bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.
Now add in the custard powder mixture and vanilla extract and mix until its been fully incorporated into the mixture. If you find the mixture has split or curdled a little – this is normal, due to the amount of moisture being added at once.
Add the dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. Start to incorporate them on a low speed, working your way up to a medium-high speed just until everything has been fully worked in and you have a smooth cake batter.
Transfer the mixture into your cake tins, splitting it equally using a pair of digital scales. This is the most accurate way of weighing it but feel free to do it by eye – smooth and level the batter off as best you can, then place into your preheated oven and bake off for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean, when inserted into the centre).
Custard Filling:
While your cakes are in the oven baking, you can make the custard filling.
Into the saucepan, pour in the milk and add in the vanilla extract/bean paste and whisk the two together until they are combined.
Place the milk mixture on the hob over a medium heat and start working on the next element of the recipe.
Into a separate bowl, place the egg yolks and sugar, then whisk together until they are fully combined. You will know the mixture is ready when the colour has changed from quite a bright and becomes a milk yellow-ish colour. You can then go ahead and add in the flour, just whisk it in until its fully incorporated.
Once the milk mixture almost reaches a boil, remove from the heat and pour around 1/3 of the mixture – this is just to help the mixture adjust to the change in temperature and influx of liquid. Whisk that 1/3 in until it’s full incorporated.
Then go ahead and steadily pour in the remaining milk, while constantly whisking the mixture – this is to ensure nothing catches and burns. After a short while, you will notice the mixture thinking – this will happen quickly, just be aware.
While hot, transfer onto a baking tray or a bowl, covering the surface with clingfilm (this prevents a skin from forming on top of the custard), ensure the clingfilm is in contact with the custard at all times.
Allow to cool fully before attempting to use the mixture.
Fresh Cream Coating:
To make the cream coating for the filling, coating and finishing of the cake is really simple. Ensure your cream is cold, straight from the fridge.
Take a mixing bowl and place in the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Using the whisk attachment, whisk everything together until the mixture reaches stiff peak – don’t take it too far, as you might find the cream over whisks and develops a nasty mouthfeel.
Once you’ve achieved the right consistency, place some into a piping bag for the rosettes on top of the cake.
Use the remainder of the cream for the filling and coating.
Decoration:
To finish the cake, grab all of the elements you have made previous.
Start by grabbing a place, board or stand and place a small dollop of cream into the centre of it – this is the ‘glue’ that will secure the first layer of cake in place. On top of the dollop of cream, place your first layer of cake, pressing down to secure it in place. Top this with a boarder of cream, then a thin layer inside that boarder. Fill the hole with a generous amount of the home-made custard filling and some strawberry jam. Place the second layer of cake on top and press in place.
Taking a piping bag filled with cream, pipe the cream all around the outside and on top of the cake, giving a rough coating. This doesn’t need to be perfect due to smoothing it later on.
Take a scraper and smooth it out as best you can – this is made much easier if you’re using a turntable. Repeat the process of going round until you’re happy with the level of smoothness, filling in any gaps with extra cream.
This is optional, I used some rainbow sprinkles and created a boarder around the edges of the cake, this is just to enhance the colour element of this cake and of course, no trifle is complete without sprinkles.
Pipe as many or as few rosettes on to the cake as possible, the generously scatter over some rainbow sprinkles.
Fill the create with a small amount of the custard filling and jam.
Then chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and enjoy within 24 hours due to the cream coating being haughtily perishable.
That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.
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