Trying trifle for first time - help me decode the recipe!! :)

Bananaleaf

Hi all

I'm going to do a trifle for Xmas dinner this year. First time doing one.

It's just for the two of us so will have to adjust recipe as the Jamie Oliver one I have here serves 20!!!! :eek:

Anyway - it's his trifle recipe from today's Sunday times.

He says I will need a 35g sachet of strawberry blancmange.

Anyone know what this is and where I can get it. Is it just gelatine?

Anyone want the recipe? Can post up if you like

Thanks

The Hill Billy

Wow! I haven't eaten or even seen blancmange in over 30 years. If it were stocked you'd probably find it near the sugars & baking produce section in a supermarket.

Bananaleaf

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Wow! I haven't eaten or even seen blancmange in over 30 years. If it were stocked you'd probably find it near the sugars & baking produce section in a supermarket.

Thanks. I have never heard of it myself and while I'm not Mary Berry I'm not a stranger to the kitchen either.

What can I use in its place or do I need to replace it with anything at all.

In recipe it says:

"Pour jelly over sponge, place in fridge, allow to set. Once set, pour a little of the milk into a mixing bowl with 2 tsp of the sugar and the blancmange and mix until dissolved"

"Bring milk to the boil then add to balncmange mix. Stir and return to the pan, whisking as you bring it back to the boil. Pour blancmange back into the bowl, allowing to cool, whisking occasionally. Once cooled, pour over the strawberry jelly layer and allow to set in the fridge.

Is there anything I can use instead of it? maybe a gelatine sachet?

Thanks

My recipe
Pack Raspberry jelly
Pack Trifle sponges
Tin fruit cocktail
Good dash sherry, port or rum
Half pint custard, made with Birds custard powder and full fat milk.
Carton of whipped cream
Cadburys flake to crumble over

Place sponges in dish
Melt jelly in 1/4 pint water and add in tin of fruit cocktail and sherry. Pour over the sponges. Keep overnight in fridge.
Pour custard over. When cold, spread whipped on top and sprinkle flake over.

Bananaleaf

Deleted User wrote: »

My recipe
Pack Raspberry jelly
Pack Trifle sponges
Tin fruit cocktail
Good dash sherry, port or rum
Half pint custard, made with Birds custard powder and full fat milk.
Carton of whipped cream
Cadburys flake to crumble over

Place sponges in dish
Melt jelly in 1/4 pint water and add in tin of fruit cocktail and sherry. Pour over the sponges. Keep overnight in fridge.
Pour custard over. When cold, spread whipped on top and sprinkle flake over.

Yeah, you know what, I might just go with that one. Why bother!! hah!

Will use cointreau as my alcohol as it is in the Jamie O recipe and we have it in the house already, hence me being drawn to the recipe in the first place. Also will use rasp and orange jelly I think too.

The Hill Billy

You could just leave the blancmange out. All that it is adding is a 'retro' factor to the dish, & a pain in the hole for people to find it in the first place.

Markcheese

Bananaleaf wrote:

Anyway - it's his trifle recipe from today's Sunday times.

Bananaleaf wrote:

Is there anything I can use instead of it? maybe a gelatine sachet?

There's gelatine in the blancmange but dont use gelatine on its own - I'd use custard .

blackbird 49

Deleted User wrote: »

My recipe
Pack Raspberry jelly
Pack Trifle sponges
Tin fruit cocktail
Good dash sherry, port or rum
Half pint custard, made with Birds custard powder and full fat milk.
Carton of whipped cream
Cadburys flake to crumble over

Place sponges in dish
Melt jelly in 1/4 pint water and add in tin of fruit cocktail and sherry. Pour over the sponges. Keep overnight in fridge.
Pour custard over. When cold, spread whipped on top and sprinkle flake over.

This is the way I would make trifle as well , quick, easy, and delicious

Bananaleaf

Markcheese wrote: »

There's gelatine in the blancmange but dont use gelatine on its own - I'd use custard .

Okay, thank you.

Would you add gelatine to the custard to make it set more or will it set by itself (I don't normally do desserts, sorry!)

Bananaleaf

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Yeah, you know what, I might just go with that one. Why bother!! hah!

Will use cointreau as my alcohol as it is in the Jamie O recipe and we have it in the house already, hence me being drawn to the recipe in the first place. Also will use rasp and orange jelly I think too.

Any flavoursome alcohol will do. I wouldn't use whiskey, brandy or vodka. Any liqueur, sherry, port would be grand. An elderly relative puts coconut creams biscuit side down, into the custard and served the cream on the side. Delicious.

Bananaleaf

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Okay, thank you.

Would you add gelatine to the custard to make it set more or will it set by itself (I don't normally do desserts, sorry!)

Custard will set itself. Don't make it too thick. Let it cool a bit, stirring from time to time before pouring over the jelly, sponge in dish.

bpmurray

Blancmange does not contain gelatine: it's flavoured cornflour, i.e. it's just another kind of custard.

Basically a trifle is made of:

• a layer of jelly, usually containing fruit (often canned fruit cocktail) and sponge
• a layer of custard (or blancmange)
• a layer of cream

It's insanely simple. You just make up the jelly according to the recipe and add the fruit and sponge (you can use ladies fingers instead if you want). When that's set, pour cooled custard over it. Top with cream and sprinkle with something colourful - hundreds & thousands work well.

Total time: 5 mins to prepare the jelly; an hour to wait for it to set; 2 mins to add the custard; 2 mins to add the cream. Done.

pwurple

I reckon strawberry flavoured blancmange powder is Angel delight!

The recipe is just not mentioning a brand name.

To get food nerdy about it, blancmange is a set milk. Setting agent can be anything from gelatine to cornflour to carrigeen moss, whatever you have handy. Angel delight uses leichten i think. Birds powder is probably more of a yellow vanilla blancmange than custard. Real custard is a tricky enough item to make with eggs. Set milk does the job just fine for trifle.

phormium

Angel Delight is definitely not blancmange. Blancmange sets like a jelly, you can use it in moulds and it holds it's shape when unmoulded. Angel Delight is more of a mousse texture. By the way both are awful and especially strawberry flavoured, is there anything worse than artificial strawberry flavoured stuff?

I have not seen blancmange for sale in many many years, maybe they still have it in UK but still surprised Jamie would use something like that in a trifle. It's just a very thick cooked cornflour based pudding that goes hard when it's cold like a white sauce would, yeuk.

You could make your own version but why bother, nice custard would be better and just use real strawberries in the trifle.

I have to make two different trifles, some like the jelly one with fruit and some prefer the sherry sponge and custard only one!

vibe666

how is it possible that nobody has posted this classic trifle decoding clip yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id0duLjvbOg

dibkins

Nigella is a big fan of trifels and her's are all pretty simple looking. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/orange-and-blackberry-trifle-recipe.html

Marcusm

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Hi all

I'm going to do a trifle for Xmas dinner this year. First time doing one.

It's just for the two of us so will have to adjust recipe as the Jamie Oliver one I have here serves 20!!!! :eek:

Anyway - it's his trifle recipe from today's Sunday times.

He says I will need a 35g sachet of strawberry blancmange.

Anyone know what this is and where I can get it. Is it just gelatine?

Anyone want the recipe? Can post up if you like

Thanks

The blancmange is suggested as an alternative to a custard layer. If you were to follow this recipe I'd avoid the chemical approach they are suggesting and use a thick custard or buy a shop bought trifle which I suspect would contain fewer E numbers.

Personally I prefer trifle without custard or a substitute.

Bananaleaf

Would it be really bad to use already set jelly to put in the trifle or would it work just the same? Have some left over bits that I could just chop up roughly and throw in (making them in small whiskey glasses) but would that be terrible and should I just start again with jelly that isn't set yet? Thanks

phormium

Well if you are using some sponge as well then obviously the jelly can't soak into it if it's already set. That's the main issue really. You could always just remelt the stuff you have and use it, no need to make fresh jelly.

Markcheese

Wouldn't go with the chopped up jelly ... Little bits of rubber in your trifle !!!
I've no prob with jelly in tr

ceemgee

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Okay, thank you.

Would you add gelatine to the custard to make it set more or will it set by itself (I don't normally do desserts, sorry!)

Blancmange is just cornflour and milk, so you could make your own for Jamie's trifle, and custard is just the same, but with a vanilla flavour. Blancmange comes in a variety of flavours. It was a staple for dessert in the '60's.

pwurple

Tried a new trifle this year... Gin and elderflower with a gelatin leaf instead of the sherry and raspberry jelly. Made a nice light custard, loads of eggs, not too much vanilla. Layer of soft whipped cream and very liberal sprinkles. Yum!

Arbiter of Good Taste

Slightly off topic, but I find jamie oliver recipes too fiddly. Look great, but before you start you end up having to buy a load of obscure stuff you probably never use again.

Trifle is yummy and delicious and most of all easy! If you find a good nigella recipe stick with that.

Graces7

When I was a child, jelly and blancmange were staples as puddings. You might enjoy an old recipe book from my native Lancashire...http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/stuff/recipe2.php?opt=rec&subopt=rec43 I never though use recipes for these sweets. Here is the best advice given on boards.

ceemgee

pwurple wrote: »

I reckon strawberry flavoured blancmange powder is Angel delight!

Angel Delight doesn't need cooking, as it is just a whipped dessert, but blancmange definitely does require cooking, as it is cornstarch. Angel Delight is similar to Dream Topping.

pwurple

Angel Delight doesn't need cooking, as it is just a whipped dessert, but blancmange definitely does require cooking, as it is cornstarch. Angel Delight is similar to Dream Topping.

Surely any fake strawberry flavoured set-milk item would do for this recipe. It's not exactly haute cuisine here.

Day Lewin

Blancmange is like cornflour; There used to be a strawberry flavoured version for sale in sachets - like custard powder, but it was made by Brown & Polson - basically pink cornflour with a bit of pink flavouring, LOL

People get passionate about trifle; there are those who detest the jelly-set-over-sponge (i've heard it described as damp plaster LOL) and those who say NO CUSTARD!

As many opinions as punters...so make what you fancy yourself!

For me, I like a sprinkle of whiskey on the sponge cakes and some raspberries, fresh or frozen scattered over that.
then cold custard, then whipped cream.

Graces7

I saw blancmange powder recently; maybe tesco or even supervalu.. But really trifle is just a matter of the payers you like. I hate lumps of fruit in it so I leave them out..