Hairy Bikers Christmas pudding trifle layers chunks of Christmas pudding and Madeira cake with ginger wine, mango, pineapple, custard and whipped cream. From their Go North Christmas episode on BBC Food, it takes 30 minutes plus 2 hours chilling and makes about 8 portions of 560 calories.
Half the ginger wine goes on first, because Si and Dave warn “you don’t want it so soggy the cake is swimming in it”. And there’s no jelly at all, since mango and pineapple sit between the soaked cake and the custard instead.
Go for “a good, thick custard”, in the words of the BBC Food recipe page, because the whipped cream goes straight on top of it. So chill it for a couple of hours if you can, since that’s when the custard sets and the flavours meld.
Hairy Bikers Christmas Pudding Trifle
Description
Boozy cake and pudding go in first, then mango and pineapple under a smooth blanket of custard. So the soft, billowy cream, toasted almonds and curls of orange zest finish it, with toasted marshmallows if you’re feeling festive.
Ingredients
For the base
For the fruit and custard
For the topping
Instructions
- Soak the base: Arrange the Madeira cake and Christmas pudding in a layer in the base of a trifle bowl. Then pour over about half the ginger wine, adding more only if it needs it, so the cake doesn’t end up swimming.
- Add the fruit and custard: Lay the mango slices over the top, then add the pineapple. Pour over the custard and smooth it out, then chill it for a couple of hours if you have time so it sets.
- Whip the cream: Put the double cream and vanilla in a bowl and sift the icing sugar on top. Whisk until soft and billowy, then pour it over the custard.
- Decorate: Scatter over the toasted flaked almonds and long pieces of pared orange zest. And if you’re using the marshmallows, pile them on top and toast them lightly with a chef’s blowtorch.
FAQs
Can I use leftover or shop-bought Christmas pudding?
Yes, because it only needs 250g of pudding in chunks, which is about a fifth of the mixture for their Christmas pudding in British Classics. And for a richer layer, their tip is to fry the chunks in 75g butter and 25g brown sugar until crisp and caramelising.
BBC Food tags this trifle as vegetarian, but that depends on what you buy. So check the pudding is made with vegetable suet, and skip the marshmallows or buy gelatine-free ones, since most are set with gelatine.
Can I make the custard myself?
Yes, but their proper custard in British Classics is only cooked until it has thickened slightly and coats the back of a spoon. So I’d expect it to be too loose to hold a layer of cream here, though it’s lovely over a hot pudding.
Instead, I’d use the custard from their summer berry trifle in Mums Know Best, thickened with 2 tbsp of cornflour. And they write there that the cornflour “stops the cream topping from sinking into the custard”. Plus 300ml each of whole milk and double cream with 4 egg yolks makes comfortably more than the 500ml you need.
Can I add jelly to this trifle?
You can, and in Mums Know Best they write “We like to include the jelly” about their summer berry trifle. That one sets a 135g packet of raspberry or strawberry jelly over the fruit for about 2 hours before the custard goes on.
But if you add jelly here, use the 220g tin of pineapple rather than fresh, because fresh pineapple stops gelatine from setting. Or for another Christmas trifle with no jelly at all, their ginger cake trifle soaks ginger cake in sherry and black cherry syrup.
How is it different from the BBC Good Food Christmas pudding trifle?
BBC Good Food’s version is by Caroline Hire, not Si and Dave, and it lays Grand Marnier oranges over 300g of leftover pudding. Then mascarpone goes into the custard and grated dark chocolate on top, for 6 portions at 704 calories each.
BBC Food also has a leftover Christmas pudding trifle credited to BBC Food rather than the Hairy Bikers. And it uses 400g of pudding with dry sherry, tinned pears and mascarpone, so neither of those two is their recipe.
How far ahead can I make it?
The recipe only asks for a couple of hours in the fridge and gives no longer make-ahead time. So I build it up to the custard the day before and add the whipped cream on the day, which is my call, not theirs. And their open-topped frangipane mince pies, from the same Go North episode, keep a week in a tin, so bake those first.
Their Black Forest trifle in British Classics works the same way, chilling under cling film until almost ready to serve before the cream goes on. And keep any leftovers covered in the fridge, then eat them within a day or two.
