Very Berry Banana Trifle

While this recipe may seem a bit long it’s very easy if you break it into parts and make it over 2 or even 3 days. I make the compote & custard and semi-assemble on one day (the flavors develop more when it stays over night) and then make the cream and shortbread the next day. I only add the shortbread & cream layer a few hours before I serve it.

The compote is more of a soft set jam and it follows a very similar process. You can check out the detailed steps & illustrations for jam making in my Homemade Strawberry Jam, which is the same except with less cooking time.

I used a ready made cake but a homemade cake would be magnificent!
And you can be smarter than me, I used a square cake for a round serving dish!!!!

For a simple fruit trifle with a lot less fuss check the additional notes below 🙂

Enjoy!

Very Berry Banana Trifle

Servings: 8 to 10 very generous portions
Time: 45 min assembly and a few hours to make the different components
Difficulty: Medium
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Ingredients:
1 medium size Vanilla or orange butter cake
Jar of berry jam (strawberry, raspberry, whatever you like)
10 to 15 good sized fresh strawberries

500 gm fresh, firm & sweet strawberries
1 Granny Smith or similar firm tart apple
200 gm sugar
3 tbsps lemon juice
1/2 tsp butter

250 to 350 gm fresh or thawed Raspberries or mixed berries
1 or 2 large bananas, sliced

250 ml whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp icing sugar
1/4 tsp cream tartar (optional)

1.5 quantity homemade Custard (follow link to recipe)

1 Scottish Shortbread disc**

Dark cocoa powder
A handful of roasted almond halves

** See notes below

You will need:

Deep glass presentation bowl, 4 or 4.5 litre capacity
Pastry brush
Small sieve
Spatula or large metal spoon.
Hand or electric whisk
Pots & bowls for the cream and compote.

Method:

For the strawberry compote: 10 – 15 min cook time & a few hours “standing” & cooling time

Place 2 metal saucers or spoon in the freezer.
Wash and remove stalks & leaves of the strawberries. Pick only the firm & non-blemished. Slice in half (or quarter if they are very big) & place in a deep bowl. The strawberry halves or quarters should still be big & chunky.
Add the sugar and mix well.
Grate the apple over the strawberries including the skin (Cut any large pieces of skin into smaller, thinner pieces).
Leave for 2 – 3 hours, mixing every once in a while, till the sugar dissolves completely and extracts the juices from the strawberries & the grated apple. (Now go make your custard or shortbread & come back later 🙂 😉 )
Once the sugar has dissolved, place the lot into a large pot with high sides and add the 3 tbps of lemon juice.
Place the pot on a medium high heat till it comes to the boil and foams up (it won’t foam up too much since its a small quantity). Give it a stir every so often so it doesn’t catch.
When its close to being ready, the foam will die down and the syrup will thicken. About 10 – 12 min.
Take it off the heat; taste it, if it’s too sweet add 1 more tbsp of lemon juice and boil it for a min. Do a quick jam test: place a small spoon of the jam onto a cold metal spoon and place in the fridge for 5 min. When you test it by running your finger through it, it should part then slowly close up. If so, its done. If not, place it back on the medium high heat and let it boil hard for 2 or 3 more min then take it off the heat & test again.
Soft set jam

Soft set jam, parting & closing up.

A True set jam – you part & it remains parted, just closing up ever so slightly. You don’t want to go this far.
When you are happy with it, stir in 1/2 tsp of butter then pour into a bowl and leave to cool.

For the custard: Takes about 15min: Follow the recipe link but make 1.5 of the quantity.

For the cream chantilly: 5 min with an electric whisk.

Whisk the very cold whipping cream with 1/4 tsp cream tartar (optional), 3 tbsps icing sugar and the teaspoon of vanilla. Start off at high speed then, as it thickens, take the speed down for more control. Over-beating will curdle the cream. Stop whisking when semi-stiff peaks form.
Place in the fridge till ready to use. Before using give a quick whisk. Do not over whisk as it will curdle and become butter!

For the shortbread: Takes 15 min to make & 20 – 30 bake time: please follow the recipe link but read the note at the bottom first.

To assemble:

Remove the crust off the sides and top of the cake with a sharp knife. Slice the cake into 1 or 2 cm thick slices.
Place 1 layer of cake slices on the bottom of the glass bowl and trim to make them fit snugly into the bowl and against each other.
With a pastry brush, brush jam all over the top of the cake slices. Try to avoid smudging the sides.
Add a layer of berries topped with banana slices.
Top fruit with another layer of cake slices, trimming them to size and pressing them down lightly to level the layer and brush with jam.
Slice the fresh strawberries in half, then take each half and slice thickly. Take the largest slices and use them to decorate around the rim of the cake layer, pressing the slices against the glass bowl.

Chop up the remaining strawberry slices you didn’t use and mix them in with the strawberry compote.
Spoon in the cooled strawberry compote over your cake layer. You don’t have to use all of it. Spoon in till about half the height of the strawberry trim for a nice thick layer. Cool in the fridge for 30 min.

Add a layer of banana slices.

Top with a thick layer of the cooled custard. It should be thick but still be pourable if you haven’t placed it in the fridge. If you have , spoon it in a big piping bag and pipe it over. Again, you may not need to use all of it.

Cover with a plate or wrap in plastic & place in the fridge overnight to set.
A few hours before serving & with the custard set, place the shortbread layer. Then start spooning dollops of the cream chantilly along the edges then in the middle.

Now with a spatula or back of a large spoon start smoothing the dollops of cream to make an irregular surface.

Sprinkle with roasted almond halves & dust with cocoa powder.

Your trifle is now ready to serve! Use the tip of a big spoon to crack/break the shortbread layer as you are serving.

Enjoy 🙂

Notes:

For the short bread:

Use the standard shortbread recipe with rice flour but pat out thinly in a much larger pan to 3 or 4ml thickness. My trifle dish circumference is 28cm so I use a 26cm circumference pan. Alternatively, bake in any large pan and then when cooled slightly, trim off the excess with a sharp knife.