Festive Black Forest Trifle

Christmas Trifle is somewhat traditional in South Africa. However I feel it has become a bit boring and predictable. I found this recipe on BBC Good Food by James Martin. I made it for a Christmas workshop and it went down brilliantly. I made 50 little ‘tasters’ for the people who came, but they looked so pretty as individual servings that I think it would be such a lovely idea to make these in a wine glass or similar and make individual trifles for your Christmas guests or dinner party guests. The brownie base adds an incredible decadence and the cherries and creme fraiche ensure that it is not sickly sweet. The good news is, that if you have made your brownies before hand, this recipe is seriously quick and ridiculously easy!

Here are the little tasters I made:

The original recipe calls for you to whip the double cream and creme fraiche until soft peaks form and then pile onto the top. Which you can absolutely do, but I took the cream mixture a little further and then used a piping bag with a 1M nozzle and piped beautiful little roses on top which looked gorgeous. The choice is yours! ENJOY!

 

500ml tub ready made chilled custard (I used the Woolworths fresh custard which was gorgeous)

100g plain dark chocolate, broken into pieces

400g chocolate brownies

2 x 390g jars cherries in kirsch or similar (I used Morello Cherries that you can get at Pick ‘n Pay)

300g tub double cream

200ml tub créme Fraiche

25g icing sugar

Grated chocolate, to decorate, and fresh cherries (optional)

 

• Put the custard into a pan with the chocolate pieces. Gently heat, stirring, until the chocolate has melted into the custard. Cover with cling film and cool.
• Arrange the brownies in the base of a trifle bowl. Drain the jars of cherries, reserving the liquid, and scatter over the brownies. Drizzle over 100ml reserved liquid. Spoon the cooled chocolate custard over and chill while you make the topping.
• Lightly whip the cream with the creme fraiche and icing sugar until soft peaks form. chill until ready to serve, then pile on top of the trifle and decorate with grated chocolate and fresh cherries.

Recipe by James Martin