The English Trifle with Sponge Cake is a spoon dessert made with creams and sponge cake soaked with Alchermes. This dessert is popular in many Italian regions, varying the liqueurs and replacing the sponge cake with cookies or, as in Emilia, with the Brazadèla.
Follow my Facebook page and LIKE to stay updated
For other suitable fillings recipes, click on the links below
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 568.88 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 91.70 (g) of which sugars 67.14 (g)
- Proteins 11.90 (g)
- Fat 15.14 (g) of which saturated 8.17 (g)of which unsaturated 6.16 (g)
- Fibers 2.88 (g)
- Sodium 43.53 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 188 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 7/8 cups sugar
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup potato starch
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 4 1/4 cups milk
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 5.3 oz 70% dark chocolate
- 3.4 oz water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup alchermes
- 3 tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder
Tools
This recipe contains IconA affiliate links
- Food scale
- Electric mixer
- Stand mixer
- Spatulas
- Springform pan inches.9
- Beverage dispenser
- Bowl
- Sieve
- Plastic wrap
- Baking paper
Steps
Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare the pan by buttering and flouring it or lining it with baking paper. Pour the eggs and sugar into a large pot and whisk them in a double boiler (over the heat) until the mixture reaches 104°F. Remove from the heat, add the seeds of the vanilla bean (keep the empty pod for the cream) and pour into the stand mixer, whisking at maximum speed for 20 minutes. When the batter falls off the whisk forming a ribbon, it will be ready.
At this point, add the sifted flours and gently mix with a spatula from bottom to top to avoid deflating the batter. Pour the batter into the pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. After the time is up, turn off the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes with the oven door slightly open. Take it out and let it cool. Remove it from the springform pan and put it on a rack to release the moisture. Once cooled, slice it.
In a saucepan, heat the milk and add the vanilla pod (from which I removed the pulp for the sponge cake). In a bowl, pour the sugar, egg yolks, and whisk together, add the sifted flour and mix. Add a ladle at a time of hot milk to make the cream more fluid.
Pour the mixture into the saucepan with the remaining boiling milk and stir with the whisk until the first boils occur, and the cream is ready. Remove the vanilla pod and divide the cream into two bowls. In one, add the chopped chocolate, which will melt with stirring. Cover both creams with plastic wrap.
Prepare the soaking syrup by dissolving the sugar in water over the heat, then turn off and add the Alchermes. In a bowl (preferably glass for the presentation), make a base of white cream, cover with slices of sponge cake, and soak with the syrup. Repeat alternating the creams and finish by sprinkling with unsweetened cocoa powder. Keep in the refrigerator until serving time.
