{Start the day before}
Ingredients
- 500ml store-bought custard
- 250ml mascarpone
- 200ml thickened cream
- 2 tbsp. icing sugar
- 2 handfuls fresh cherries
- 130g honeycomb, broken into small pieces
Cherry Jelly
- 500g fresh cherries, halved, seeds removed
- 2 cups sour cherry nectar or cherry juice
- 1 ½ cup caster sugar
- 2 tbsp. powdered gelatine
Spiced Cake
- 1 ¼ cups plain flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. bicarbonate soda
- 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon powder
- ½ tsp. ground ginger
- ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ cup honey
- 125gm melted butter, cooled slightly
- 1 egg, lightly whisked
- ½ cup brown sugar
Method
Make spiced cake. Preheat oven to 160˚C fan-forced. Grease and line a 20 cm square baking pan with non-stick baking paper.
Place ½ cup of water in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Take off heat, add honey and mix well. Add baking soda and stir until completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.
Place the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl and mix well until combined. In another bowl stir brown sugar and melted butter until the sugar has dissolved. Add egg and whisk well. Make a well in the middle of the flour, pour in half the egg mixture and stir until combined. Add the remaining half and mix well. Now add all of the honey mixture, stir until combined.
This cake batter will be quite runny. Pour cake mixture into prepared cake tin and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a metal skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Make cherry jelly. Place cherries, sugar, nectar, and 1 cup of cold water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Simmer partially covered for 8 minutes or until cherries have softened. Cool for 5 minutes. Add gelatine to liquid and stir until dissolved. Cool for 15 minutes. Pour into a 3-litre trifle bowl. Set in the fridge over night.
Place custard, mascarpone, cream, and icing sugar into a large bowl. Beat with an electric beater until soft peaks form. Place in fridge until ready to use.
Slice cake in 4 long pieces. Now cut into 2 cm thick pieces. Layer cake pieces on top of cherry jelly, reserving 6 pieces. Sprinkle 2 handfuls of honeycomb pieces over cake layer. Pour the cream mixture on top of cake and honeycomb. Top with remaining pieces of cake, 2 big handfuls of cherries, and honeycomb.
Tips
After adding the cream, store the trifle in the fridge for up to 6 hours before serving. Top with cake, cherries and honeycomb before serving.
If you’re time-poor use a store-bought Christmas cake instead of making your own.
You can use premium store bought custard to make this dessert extra fancy!