Trifle

Trifleis a layereddessertofEnglishorigin. The usual ingredients are a thin layer ofsponge fingersorsponge cakesoaked insherryor anotherfortified wine, afruitelement (fresh or jelly),custardand whipped cream layered in that ascending order in a glass dish.The contents of a trifle are highly variable and many varieties exist, some forgoing fruit entirely and instead using other ingredients, such aschocolate,coffeeorvanilla. The fruit and sponge layers may be suspended in fruit-flavouredjelly, and these ingredients are usually arranged to produce three or four layers. The assembled dessert can be topped withwhipped creamor, more traditionally,syllabub.
The nametriflewas used for a dessert like afruit foolin the sixteenth century; by the eighteenth century,Hannah Glasserecords a recognisably modern trifle, with the inclusion of agelatinjelly.
Trifle appeared in cookery books in the sixteenth century.The earliest use of the nametriflewas in a recipe for a thick cream flavoured withsugar, ginger and rosewater, inThomas Dawson's 1585book of English cookeryThe Good Huswifes Jewell.This flavoured thick cream was cooked 'gently like a custard, and was grand enough to be presented in a silver bowl.These earlier trifles, it is claimed, 'derived from the flavoured almond milk of medieval times'.Early trifles were, according to food historian Annie Gray, 'more like fools (puréed fruit mixed with sweetened cream)'.Trifle evolved from thesefools, and originally the two names were used interchangeably.
It was not until the 1750s that trifles took the form that many know of today.Two recipes for what now is considered a trifle first appeared in the mid-18th century in England. Both recipes describedbiscuitssoaked in wine layered withcustardand covered in a whippedsyllabubfroth. One was in the 4th edition ofHannah Glasse'sThe Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy(1751) and the other was by an unknown author entitledThe Whole Duty of a Woman(1751).
Jellyis first recorded as part of a trifle recipe inHannah Glasse's'A grand trifle'  in her bookThe Compleat Confectioner(1760). Her recipe instructs the reader to usecalves' feet to make a rich calves-foot jelly, and to half fill the dish with this jelly. Biscuits and macaroons are broken into pieces and stuck into the jelly before it sets, 'thick sweet cream' is poured over the jelly and biscuits and the whole is decorated with pieces of calves-foot jelly, raspberry jam and currant jelly cut into pieces, and more macaroons finish the dish.
The Dean's Cream fromCambridge, Englandwas made about the same time as Hannah Glasse's version and was composed of sponge cakes, spread with jam, macaroons andratafiassoaked in sherry, and covered withsyllabub. Trifle-like desserts of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries include King's Pudding, Easter Pudding, Victoria Pudding or Colchester pudding.
In 1855Eliza Actondescribed The Duke's Custard, a mixture of sugared, brandied Morella cherries, covered in custard, edged with Naples biscuits (sponge fingers) ormacaroons, which was then finished with solid whipped cream coloured pink withcochinealand 'highly flavoured' with brandy.
The English cookery writerJane Grigsonhas a trifle in her book on English Food (first published in 1974) and she describes her version, which includes macaroons,Frontignanwine,brandy, eggs, raspberry jam and everlastingsyllabub, as "a pudding worth eating, not the mean travesty made with yellow, packaged sponge cakes, poor sherry and powdered custard".
The late 19th century was, according to the food historian Annie Gray, "a sort of heyday" for triflesand by the early 1900s there were, in print, says Gray, "a bewildering number of recipes". There were thirteen inThe Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery: A Complete Dictionary of All Pertaining to the Art of Cookery and Table Service(8 volumes, 1891), from Theodore Francis Garrett, alone.That book is unusual, suggests Gray, in including two savoury versions, one withvealand one withlobster.
In 2022, a trifle was selected to be thePlatinum Pudding, to help celebrate thePlatinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.A lemon Swiss roll and amaretti trifle, created by Jemma Melvin fromSouthport,Merseyside, in the United Kingdom won a competition run byFortnum & Mason"to create a pudding fit for the Queen".
Coronation Trifle was created byAdam Handlingfor theCoronation of King Charles IIIin 2023. It is made withparkin, ginger custard and strawberry jelly.
Trifles may contain different sorts of alcohol such asport,punsch,raisin wineorcuraçao.
TheScotshave a similar dish to the trifle,tipsy laird, made withDrambuieorwhisky.
In Italy, a dessert similar to and probably based on trifle is known aszuppa inglese, literally "English soup".Tiramisùis prepared similarly to trifle, but it does not include fruits and the original recipe calls for the savoiardi (ladyfingers) to be dipped in coffee rather than spirits.