Holiday Berry Trifle
There is no better way to welcome the holidays than with this festive bowl of Holiday Berry Trifle layered with fruity jelly, rich white chocolate custard, sponge cake, pillowy mascarpone cream and fresh berries. It's a treat that a whole family can enjoy!
Servings: 10
Ingredients
Sponge Cake
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
Jelly
- 3 cups regular cranberry juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup strawberries halved
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar optional (depending on juice tartness)
White Chocolate Custard
- 2 cups milk full fat
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 2 oz white chocolate chopped
Mascarpone Cream
- 1 cup mascarpone cheese
- 2 tbsp orange liquor optional
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Extras
- 2 punnets strawberries
- 1 punnet raspberries
- 1 punnet blueberries
- fresh mint
Instructions
Sponge Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of a 9'' cake pan with parchment paper.
- Beat eggs in a bowl with a mixer on high speed for 1 minute. Gradually add sugar and continue beating until thick and fluffy, about 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Then sift it into the egg mixture. Fold with the spatula until just incorporated and stop mixing when no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix the batter or it will deflate.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 23-25 min or until top is golden brown. Once baked, remove from the oven and let cool for 5 min. Then run the knife around the edges of a pan and dump the sponge cake onto the wire rack to cool. Peel off the parchment paper. Once cool, store in an airtight container.
Jelly:
- Wash and hull strawberries, then cut in half. Set aside.
- Heat up half of cranberry juice in a small pan until just simmers. Turn off heat and stir in sugar (if using).
- In a separate bowl place remaining cold juice and sprinkle with gelatin. Stir, let sit for 2 min and stir again.
- Add warm juice to cold juice, stir and pour mixture into the trifle bowl. Refrigerate until semi-firm, about 2-3 hours.
- Push strawberries around the sides and some in the center of jelly. Refrigerate until firm, at least another 3 hours, or overnight.
White Chocolate Custard:
- In a large bowl whisk together egg yolks, 1/3 cup milk, sugar and cornstarch.
- In a heavy sauce pan, heat remaining milk over medium heat until simmering, then gradually whisk the milk into yolk mixture. Return to pan and cook whisking until thick enough to mound on a spoon, about 5-7 min.
- Remove from heat and strain through fine sieve into a clean bowl. Stir in white chocolate until melted. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of custard and refrigerate until cold, about 4 hrs or overnight.
Mascarpone Cream:
- Just before assembling your Holiday Berry Trifle, make the cream by folding together mascarpone cheese with liquor in a large bowl until incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, beat together heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy with soft peaks. Use a spatula to fold half of the whipped cream into mascarpone to lighten it, then fold in remaining cream and blend until fully incorporated.
Trifle Assembly:
- Pour cooled white chocolate custard on top of jelly layer.
- Crumble cake on top of custard. Sprinkle with berries.
- Cover with mascarpone cream
- Decorate with more berries, fresh mint and powdered sugar.
Notes
Holiday Berry Trifle was inspired by this recipe from Home Beautiful.