It was... just a trifle
I was invited to dinner today so I offered to make a dessert. Since it's summer, I opted to make something that didn't require me baking... a trifle. For those not in the know a trifle is a traditional English dessert. It's basically a giant parfait in a glass bowl. Think of a ginormous tiramisu and make it with fruit instead of coffee and chocolate, and you're on the right track. Though the English have "veddy proper" recipes, for these in America it's a lot more of an improvised thing. While it can be nice to take ladyfingers and spread them with jam or preserves to make sandwiches and layer that in the bottom of the pan to start with, there is such a thing as overkill, say I with irony. . . .
3 bananas (approx)
1 quart of strawberries (or more for garnish).
2 small cans of pineapple chunks (the juice will also be used)
1 container of cool whip
1 small package of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 jar of high quality fruit preserves (Hero brand strawberry preserves)
1 can of commercial vanilla pudding (or make your own pudding from scratch)
2 loaf angelfood cakes
high quality juice (I used pomegranite with pineapple and raspberry)
a large glass bowl, preferably cylindrical. (If you find a mostly cylindrical bowl with slightly sloping outward walls with a fixed base to it, congratulations you found an actual trifle bowl/stand.)
some amount of:
banana liquour
amaretto
rum
powdered sugar
vanilla flavoring
A special note about presentation: a trifle is a layered dessert. If you want to make yours stand out, you can do so by taking extra fruit or cake bits and arranging them on the side of the glass bowl and then filling in the layer. It's not too hard to do with the bananas but it takes quite a few strawberries to do this and makes the layer end up thicker.
Begin by slicing the angelfood into thin squarish slices (hence the recommendation of a loaf style cake). I would recommend 1/4" slices.
Take the strawberries, wash and remove any stems. Reserve a few for garnish. Slice up the strawberries and place them in a bowl. Lightly dust with powdered sugar to correct their sweetness if necessary, tossing them.
Layer the bottom of the pan with a layer of the cake. Sprinkle banana liquour over the cakes. (You can also opt to get them pretty soaked if you like the booze but watch out for them becoming too mushy.) Layer the strawberries on top.
Take about 1/2 the cream cheese, add 2 heaping tablespoons of strawberry preserves and a tablespoon of juice. Fold together with an electric hand mixer. Add half the cool whip and blend together, whipping lightly. This will create what I call "strawberry fluff."
Layer the strawberry fluff on top of the fresh strawberries and spread to an even layer.
Add another layer of angelfood. Combine about 2 tablespoons of juice with a tablespoon of amaretto in a small cup, and sprinkle it across the layer to lightly moisten. Repeat until the cake is moistened to your satisfaction. Take the banana slices and layer them across the angelfood cake.
Take the can of commercial vanilla pudding and put it in another mixing bowl. Add 1-2 tablespoons of banana liquour. Open one of the cans of pineapple and drain the liquid, reserving it. Add 1/2 to 2/3 of that liquid. Mix on high until smoothly blended. (Note that the pudding I use is thick like pie filling out of the can and if you are going to use a Jello instant pudding, I recommend you just go for banana flavor or pina colada or something like that.) The pudding should be a little thin but not watery, and very smooth. Pour the banana pudding layer in and smooth out.
Place a third layer of angelfood cake in. Open the second can of pineapple and drain and reserve its liquid too. (You should have 1-1/2 cans worth of juice at this point). Note that you do not have to get the pineapple chunks dry. Place them on the angelfood and let the pineapple juice clinging to them be the moistening. Supplement with a little bit of pomegranite juice and or banana liquour if necessary. Take most of the remaining cream cheese and mix it with about half of the juice you have, add a splash of rum if desired. Fold together with the hand mixer, and then mix in all the remaining cool whip and mix until smooth. Spoon over the pineapple chunks, possibly mixing around. (My top layer is just barely covering the chunks).
Garnish with the remaining strawberries. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate at least 2 hours before serving. Here's what it looks like when it's all put together. The glass is a little steamy because I just pulled it out of the fridge to snap a few pictures.
Top View
Side View
I have to stress this is just today's improvised variation and not "the" way to make a trifle. I'll let you guys know how it goes over!
3 bananas (approx)
1 quart of strawberries (or more for garnish).
2 small cans of pineapple chunks (the juice will also be used)
1 container of cool whip
1 small package of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 jar of high quality fruit preserves (Hero brand strawberry preserves)
1 can of commercial vanilla pudding (or make your own pudding from scratch)
2 loaf angelfood cakes
high quality juice (I used pomegranite with pineapple and raspberry)
a large glass bowl, preferably cylindrical. (If you find a mostly cylindrical bowl with slightly sloping outward walls with a fixed base to it, congratulations you found an actual trifle bowl/stand.)
some amount of:
banana liquour
amaretto
rum
powdered sugar
vanilla flavoring
A special note about presentation: a trifle is a layered dessert. If you want to make yours stand out, you can do so by taking extra fruit or cake bits and arranging them on the side of the glass bowl and then filling in the layer. It's not too hard to do with the bananas but it takes quite a few strawberries to do this and makes the layer end up thicker.
Begin by slicing the angelfood into thin squarish slices (hence the recommendation of a loaf style cake). I would recommend 1/4" slices.
Take the strawberries, wash and remove any stems. Reserve a few for garnish. Slice up the strawberries and place them in a bowl. Lightly dust with powdered sugar to correct their sweetness if necessary, tossing them.
Layer the bottom of the pan with a layer of the cake. Sprinkle banana liquour over the cakes. (You can also opt to get them pretty soaked if you like the booze but watch out for them becoming too mushy.) Layer the strawberries on top.
Take about 1/2 the cream cheese, add 2 heaping tablespoons of strawberry preserves and a tablespoon of juice. Fold together with an electric hand mixer. Add half the cool whip and blend together, whipping lightly. This will create what I call "strawberry fluff."
Layer the strawberry fluff on top of the fresh strawberries and spread to an even layer.
Add another layer of angelfood. Combine about 2 tablespoons of juice with a tablespoon of amaretto in a small cup, and sprinkle it across the layer to lightly moisten. Repeat until the cake is moistened to your satisfaction. Take the banana slices and layer them across the angelfood cake.
Take the can of commercial vanilla pudding and put it in another mixing bowl. Add 1-2 tablespoons of banana liquour. Open one of the cans of pineapple and drain the liquid, reserving it. Add 1/2 to 2/3 of that liquid. Mix on high until smoothly blended. (Note that the pudding I use is thick like pie filling out of the can and if you are going to use a Jello instant pudding, I recommend you just go for banana flavor or pina colada or something like that.) The pudding should be a little thin but not watery, and very smooth. Pour the banana pudding layer in and smooth out.
Place a third layer of angelfood cake in. Open the second can of pineapple and drain and reserve its liquid too. (You should have 1-1/2 cans worth of juice at this point). Note that you do not have to get the pineapple chunks dry. Place them on the angelfood and let the pineapple juice clinging to them be the moistening. Supplement with a little bit of pomegranite juice and or banana liquour if necessary. Take most of the remaining cream cheese and mix it with about half of the juice you have, add a splash of rum if desired. Fold together with the hand mixer, and then mix in all the remaining cool whip and mix until smooth. Spoon over the pineapple chunks, possibly mixing around. (My top layer is just barely covering the chunks).
Garnish with the remaining strawberries. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate at least 2 hours before serving. Here's what it looks like when it's all put together. The glass is a little steamy because I just pulled it out of the fridge to snap a few pictures.
Top View
Side View
I have to stress this is just today's improvised variation and not "the" way to make a trifle. I'll let you guys know how it goes over!