Recipe: Summer Trifle

Who can imagine summer without summer food?  This is the perfect dessert for summer.

Ingredients

Sliced Strawberries

Pound Cake

Blueberries

Raspberries

Frozen mixed berries

Sugar

Whipped Cream

Powdered Sugar

Pastry Cream

1 1/4 cups milk

1 t vanilla

3 large egg yolks

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/8 cup (20 grams) all-purpose flour

Scant 3 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch

3/4 tablespoon (10 ml) liqueur (Grand Marnier, Brandy, Kirsch)

For Pastry Cream:

 In a medium-sized stainless steel bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together with a wooden spoon. Sift the flour and cornstarch together into egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste.  Set aside. 

Meanwhile in a saucepan combine the milk and vanilla on medium heat until boiling.  (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.)  Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.  (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.)  Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly.  When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and it is hard to stir.

Remove from heat.  Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming.  Cool.  Whip cream with 2 T of powdered sugar.  Just before using, fold in the softly whipped cream with a wooden spoon. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Berries:

Puree thawed mixed berries.  Add pureed berries to fresh berries in a large bowl.  Stir in about 3/4  cup of sugar and sprinkle with lemon zest.  Let berries macerate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Slice pound cake into bite-sized cubes. 

To Assemble the Trifle: Place a layer of pound cake on the bottom of the bowl.  Cover with berry mixture.  Spread pastry cream on top.  Repeat the layers starting with the pound cake.  Top with Whipped cream and decorate with a few spare berries.  Cover and refrigerate to allow the flavors to mingle until ready to eat.

*For a quick version, just buy vanilla pudding in substitute for pastry cream and you could also use cool whip.