Festive food: Christmas trifle recipe

Ingredients

For the Joconde Sponge:

140 grams icing sugar

140 grams ground almonds

40 grams plain flour

4 eggs

4 eggs whites, whipped

30 grams melted butter

For the Crème Patissiere:

1 litre milk

1 vanilla pod (split and seed scrapped out)

150 grams caster sugar

16 egg yolks

60 grams flour

30 grams corn flour

Fruit jelly

100 millilitres sugar syrup

100 millilitres sweet sherry

Crème Chantilly

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade. For the sponge, combine icing sugar, ground almonds and the flour in a bowl of an electric mixer and whisk at medium speed. Add the eggs one by one, and pour the mixture onto the whipped egg whites and fold in with a spatula. Add the melted butter. Pour onto a lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Take it out of the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack. Meanwhile, make the crème patissiere by bringing the milk to the boil with the split vanilla pod and infuse it for 5 minutes.

Cream the egg yolks and the sugar together and then add the flour and corn flour and mic until smooth. Pour 200 millilitres of the milk into the creamed eggs and flour and mix in, add the remaining milk and then pour back into the saucepan and bring to the boil mixing continuously and cook out for 1 minute. Pass through a fine sieve and reserve for later use.

Cut out 2 large circles of Jaconde sponge that are the same size as your glass bowl. Layer the trifle by adding half the fruit jelly into the bowl and then leave this to set in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Now top with a circle of sponge and then generously brush with half of the sherry and sugar syrup. Add the rest of the fruit jelly and place into the fridge until set. Remove form the fridge and top with the remaining jaconde sponge and brush with the rest of the sherry and sugar syrup. Now pipe on the crème patissiere and crème Chantilly.

Michael Caines features in 12 Chefs of Christmas, which airs everyday this December at 11am on Food Network UK (Freeview 41, Sky 248, Freesat 149)