I don’t think I could write a book that didn’t include a recipe for trifle somewhere – and this, I tell you, is the trifle to end all trifles. The shiny black of the berries, the soft whiteness of the mascarpone above them and the golden toastiness of the almonds on top, make it, in the first instance, beautiful to look at. But the key element here is ease: unlike with other trifles, there is no caution-requiring cooking of custard, which however delicious, has its stresses. In fact, the only cooking whatsoever is a little heating of some jam on the stove. The Anglo factor is provided by the trifle sponges, jam and hedgerow-redolent fruit; the amaretti, limoncello – or any other lemon liqueur – and tiramisù-like eggy mascarpone layer fulfil the Italian side of the partnership.
I use blackcurrant rather than blackberry jam, simply because I want a more jellied, less pippy smearing between the sponges, but it wouldn’t really matter which you go for. Similarly, feel free to use rum in place of the limoncello. It’s just that I find it hard to come back from holiday in Italy without lugging strange lemon-shaped bottles of local liqueurs, and then want to justify the effort by finding some use for them in the kitchen.
As with all trifles, it’s not the amounts which are so important, but the layering: in other words, different-sized bowls will require different quantities of ingredients; the ones that follow are enough to fill a bowl – and it should be glass – of about 2 litres capacity.
8 trifle sponges
200g blackcurrant jam
1 x 200g packet amaretti biscuits
250ml limoncello (or other lemon liqueur)
juice of half a lemon
750g blackberries
2 eggs, separated
100g caster sugar
750g mascarpone cheese
50g flaked almonds
Split the trifle sponges and make little sandwiches of them using 150g of the jam, then wodge them into the base of your glass bowl. Reduce the amaretti biscuits to rubble in the processor and, reserving some crumbs for sprinkling over the top at the end, scatter most of them evenly over the sponges and then pour over them 150ml of the limoncello. Put the remaining 50g of jam into a wide saucepan with the lemon juice and melt over a low heat, then tumble in the blackberries and turn in the heat for a minute or so just until the juices start running. Tip these over the biscuit-sprinkled, liqueur-soused sponge sandwiches to cover and leave this while you get on with the next bit.
Whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar until you have a thick smooth yellow paste. I use my Kitchen Aid for this, but any old hand-held electric mixer or whisk would be fine. Still whisking, drip in another 50ml limoncello and continue whisking away until you have a light moussey mixture. Whisk in the mascarpone until everything is smoothly combined, and when this is done add the remaining 50ml of limoncello. Finally, in another bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm, but not dry, and fold these into the lemony, eggy mascarpone mixture. Now spread this gently over the blackberries in the glass bowl.
Cover the thus-far assembled trifle with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for the flavours and textures to steep and meld for at least 4 hours and up to 24. Take the trifle out of the fridge for about 40 minutes to an hour before it’s needed (depending on how cold your fridge runs) to get to coolish room temperature. Not long before you want to eat, toast the flaked almonds by tossing them in a dry, oil-less pan over medium heat until they are turning gold and flashed bronze in parts, then tip them on to a plate. When they’re cool, mix them with the reserved amaretti crumbs. Remove the clingfilm from the bowl and scatter the nuts and crumbs over the pale, set surface. Dig in and serve, making sure to heap the full triple-banded layer on each plate: the lemony, almondy, cream-swathed berrieness makes this the perfect ending to a large, lazy summer lunch.
Serves 12–14.