This trifle will look smashing on your Christmas table!!! Layers of custard and jelly, studded with cake and piled high with cream and fruit, it looks stunning in a trifle dish but otherwise just use a glass bowl!
TOP TIP: you can buy the cake and custard ready made (though my recipe uses homemade). But I really recommend making the jelly yourself. It’s such a major component in trifle, it’s easy, and the difference between artificially flavoured packet jelly and real fruit jelly is phenomenal!
Christmas Trifle
The first time I made trifle, I used raspberry flavoured Aeroplane jelly and store bought custard. It looked so fabulous, I was beaming with pride. Blinded by the beauty of the trifle, I completely forgot the first rule of cooking – it doesn’t matter how pretty it looks or how good the photos are if it tastes meh.
One big bite, and I wrinkled my nose with distaste. The jelly flavour was just so incredibly artificial, it was really off-putting because its artificial-ness is such a stark contrast to all the other flavours going on in the trifle.
Now before you go thinking I’m some kind of food snob, let me just say this – I actually don’t mind Aeroplane jelly on it’s own, there’s something sentimental about it. And I thoroughly encourage you to use store bought custard if you are pressed for time (though homemade is really sooooo good!).
BUT PLEASE DO NOT USE FLAVOURED AEROPLANE JELLY IN THIS TRIFLE!!!!
I promise you, it is so crazy simple to make real juice flavoured jelly! All you have to do is use gelatine which is very cheap and easy to use!
NOTE: I used to use flavourless Aeroplane Jelly for the jelly (click here for the original recipe). It’s no longer available, so the recipe uses plain gelatine instead which was preciously an alternative in the notes. Video not yet refilmed. Will do so next year!
For those of you wondering about the difference: Flavourless Aeroplane Jelly was sweet so the recipe called for unsweetened cranberry juice. Gelatine powder is unsweetened so we need to use sweetened cranberry juice.
I think the reason why it makes such a difference to use real Cranberry Juice for the jelly instead of flavoured Aeroplane Jelly is because there is so much of it in the trifle. Also, the jelly is slightly more concentrated in flavour than when you make it per the packet directions because the liquid to crystals ratio is lower, to ensure the jelly is firm enough to withstand the weight of everything piled on top of it.
Other than that, I have no other trifle rules. In fact, I’m pretty relaxed about everything else. Use whatever cake you want for the base – store bought or homemade madeira, Pound Cake or Vanilla Cake, even Christmas cake. Use homemade or store bought custard. Use any fruit you want – even canned is fine. I’d even say it’s pretty ok to use whipped cream out of a spray can over using flavoured Aeroplane jelly!!!
If you want quite neat layers, like depicted, please do follow the recipe carefully for each layer. In my trifle making life, there have been some not-so-pretty trifle efforts (albeit tasty!). Mainly bleeding between the layers, and jelly that set too much before ladling onto the custard, so it looked broken and split, rather than a clear jelly to show off the fruit in that layer.
If you’re catering for a large group this Christmas and/or you want a dessert you can make days in advance, this Christmas Trifle is ideal! Just assemble the layers then refrigerate. The only thing you’ll need to do on the day is whip the cream and pile on the fruit.
Then stand back and admire your handiwork. Beam with pride at how gorgeous your trifle looks. Enjoy that moment, because as soon as people start digging in, it will look like a complete and utter wreck. A delicious wreck. 😂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Christmas Trifle
Ingredients
- 1 x 450g / 14 oz Madeira cake or Pound cake store bought (Note 1)
- 1/3 cup orange or other fruit flavoured liquor (like Cointreau), or apple, orange or other fruit juice (or 2 tbsp brandy)
- 7 tsp gelatine powder (Note 2)
- 6 cups Cranberry juice, original (ie WITH sugar added, not No Added Sugar, Note 2)
- 500 – 750g (1 – 1.5 lb) strawberries , halved
- 1 each punnet blueberries, raspberries
Cream:
- 2 1/2 cups heavy / thickened cream (or pure whipping cream)
- 3 tbsp white sugar (caster sugar ok)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Homemade Thick Custard (or 900g 1 tub Pauls Double Thick Vanilla Custard, Note 3):
- 3 cups milk (full or low fat)
- 1/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract) (Note 4)
- 1/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar), extra
- 4 egg yolks (Note 7 for using leftover whites)
- 1/2 cup cornflour / cornstarch
Instructions
- Cut cake into 2 cm / 0.8" cubes. Cover bottom of 3.5 L / 3.5 qt trifle dish with cake (might not use all) and sprinkle with liquor or juice.
- Optional extra: Scatter over 1/2 to 1 punnet halved strawberries (this is not in ingredients list).
Cranberry Jelly:
- Heat half juice – Put half the cranberry juice into a saucepan over medium heat (3 cups / 750ml). Bring to a simmer, then turn off stove.
- Dissolve geatline – Meanwhile, put remaining room temperature cranberry juice into a very large bowl. Sprinkle gelatine all across surface (don't dump in one place, else you get lumps). Whisk until mostly dissolved (will finish dissolving in next step).
- Pour in hot cranberry juice. Whisk until gelatin is fully dissolved.
Jelly Layer 1:
- Pour HALF the warm jelly liquid carefully down the side of the trifle dish so the cake pieces are submerged. Refrigerate the trifle dish uncovered for 1 1/2 hours until it is partly set. It needs to be set enough so you can gently place a strawberry on it and it will stay on the surface. Proceed to Custard Layer steps.
- Pour remaining warm jelly in a bowl and leave on the counter. DO NOT refrigerate.
- Meanwhile, make the custard so it is ready to use (see below for how to make).
Custard Layer:
- Remove trifle from fridge. Whisk the room temperature custard to loosen. Spoon onto the jelly, smooth surface, press against wall of glass to seal (stops jelly bleed so you get neat layers). Refrigerate uncovered for 1 hour until the surface has firmed up a bit – just enough to hold the jelly (jelly is soft, so custard doesn't need to be fully set).
Partially set remaining jelly
- Give the remaining jelly a good whisk then put it in the fridge at the same time to thicken a bit but not fully set. Refrigerate for 1 hour, but check at 30 minutes to ensure it isn't setting too fast. The jelly should be sloppy but spoonable, scoops up in a small mound. If it fully sets, you'll end up with a "broken glass" effect on the next jelly layer rather than a clear layer (read Note 5).
Jelly Layer 2:
- Remove trifle and jelly from fridge. Jelly should be sloppy. Carefully spoon over jelly, smooth surface. Scatter over 1 punnet halved strawberries (or half each raspberries and strawberries). Refrigerate for 3 hours+ (can leave in fridge for 48 hours, until ready to assemble).
Assembling:
- Cream: Beat cream, sugar and vanilla until softly whipped.
- Once jelly is set, just before serving, top with cream, then pile over remaining berries. Dust with icing sugar.
- Serve!! PS It is imperative to ensure every servings includes a bit of every layer in the trifle 😂
Homemade Custard:
- Bring milk, ¼ cup sugar and vanilla to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not boil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together remaining ¼ cup sugar and yolks, then whisk in cornflour until smooth.
- While whisking, carefully pour in about ½ cup of milk mixture. Once mixed in, slowly pour in remaining milk while whisking. Once incorporated and smooth, pour back into saucepan.
- Return saucepan to stove over low heat. Whisk constantly until it becomes thick and custardy – this will happen quite quickly, about 45 seconds (ie it is liquidy when you start, then suddenly it thickens). Once thickened, remove immediately from heat (it will continue to thicken as it cools).
- Immediately pour into a bowl and cover with cling wrap, pressing onto surface. Leave on the counter to cool to room temp until trifle is ready to layer with custard. Makes 750ml. (Note 5)
Recipe Notes:
Life of Dozer
Dear Santa,
All I want for Christmas is for this Trifle to fall off the table.
Love, Dozer 🐾
Santa won’t be making good on that wish, but while he was sleeping, Santa accidentally flung some custard on his face and he didn’t even stir….
I made this from scratch as directed. I found that the link to the vanilla cake was for two recipes and it was unclear how many were needed for the trifle. Probably only one? Anyway, I made a pound cake for the bottom layer. The jelly layers did take a lot longer to set than as written in the recipe. Maybe the timings haven’t been updated now for the real (not Aeroplane) jelly? All in all though, a fabulous recipe and it tastes AMAZING! And of course it looks AMAZING!
Gluten free options instead of pound/Madeira cake please?
Made your trifle it was delicious.Made a huge bowel it lasted about 3 days the jelly is now the only way I will make jelly from now on. Five people gobbled it down.
The vision of five people gobbling this down made my DAY!!! N x
Hi 👋🏻 I was just wondering, do you think muscat would compliment the other flavours as is?
Thank you in advance!
Just made this to use up some frozen leftover cake. Had a juice in the fridge that was berry and something else which made a nice jelly. I made the home made custard which was beautiful. All not too sweet at all.
Your explanations and attention to all details is truly exceptional in this recipe!
I do intend to make this one day 🙏
Thankyou for being so thorough and thoughtful with all steps.
Cathy x
I made this trifle for our Christmas luncheon. To say that is was a visual delight is an understatement. Not only that but the trifle worked out perfectly and tasted amazing. I wouldn’t change a thing about this beauty.
Looks amazing, and I really want to try oit for guests this week, what size bowl did everyone use to make the trifle in?
“Culinary magic at your fingertips – Recipetineats, where recipes come to life!”
This was glorious – thank you! I added an extra teaspoon of gelatin to the jelly based on some previous comments, and it set in the times predicted in the recipe. I included a couple of layers of sliced mango, as suggested in the variation on this recipe published in the Sydney Morning Herald, and it was delicious – the mango added a nice sweetness and an extra layer of custardy texture. Another recipe that I know I’ll make repeatedly – thank you!
Tasted delicious, but I agree that the times listed for ‘jelly layer 1’ aren’t at all reliable. I bought the exact brands suggested, and it still took about 3 hours before the jelly was set enough to spoon custard onto. At the 1.5 hour mark it was still basically runny like water. I’d suggest expecting at least 3 hours for this step.
I made trifle for the first time and this was an excellent recipe. It even looked perfect (I was expecting all kinds of disasters). The only thing I didn’t add was the cream on top, and changed the store bought custard to lactose free but it tasted amazing. Everyone went back for seconds. So easy to eat!! Will definitely repeat 🙂
I made this for a potluck.
Your instructions were easy to follow. The only change I made was reduce the amount of sugar to half of everything. Guests appreciated how not so sweet it was.
Thanks for sharing.
Delicious. Made it with nectarines instead of strawberries. Very tasty.
The jelly took ages to set, well beyond the times listed in the recipe.
I followed the homemade custard recipe but used vanilla bean powder instead of the paste and I probably used too much because it ended up looking beige 😅
However it turned out great in the end and tasted delicious – not too sweet with a lil’ bit of sourness from the jelly which highly complimented the rich creaminess of the whipped cream.
This was my first ever attempt at trifle and it was a hit.
I cheated and bought the Pauls Double custard due to time constraints.
The jelly took a bit longer to set – but it did set. I used Pedro Ximinez to soak the cake. It was perfect: not too strong an alcoholic flavour, but enough to give it flavour.
this one’s a winner.
As this dessert is more for the kids I used Aeroplane Jelly my kids love it. And then made my own custard.
For this recipe do you use all the cranberry juice which comes in 1.5 litre bottle
Recipe is confusing says heat 750 ml
Then with the remaining cranberry sprinkle with gelatin, whisk then pour in the hot cranberry is this correct so the actual amount of cranberry is 1.5 litre correct
Great taste, but agree the setting times are off. Allow hours more than written in the recipe. I would be concerned adding too much more gelatin as I suspect it may alter the taste. Happy to be corrected though!
I have adopted this trifle as our family’s go-to recipe since 2019. I make it exactly as the recipe suggests. I use Paul’s double thick custard to save time and it is spectacular always- in looks and taste!
I just have set my first layer in the fridge for Christmas 2023 and wanted to drop by here to say a heartfelt thank you!
Wish you and your family a beautiful Christmas
❤️
Cherry