Rhubarb and Rose Trifle Recipe

My entry for World Trifle Day 2018.

Trifle. What's not to like? Apart from mass produced shop brought ones of course. Trifle  deserves more - it can be elevated above a kids table staple. Do yourselves a favour and make your own sponge base, your own vanilla custard and then it turns the humble trifle into a confection.

Here's a classic dessert with no rules, apart from the ones you make yourselves, or are passed down the generations from aunts and grannies.

My aunt's famous trifle version was with candied stem ginger and the sponge base soaked in ginger wine. Custard, cream, then finished with crystallised ginger. Nice if you're a ginger fan like me! Gran's version was more traditional with sherry. 

If you like big desserts to share, these days we've kind of lost that sweet trolley way of serving in restaurants, so you need to make the magic at home instead. The good thing about catering in people's houses like I did from 2006 - 18 was that we could try things out that you wouldn't normally find in a restaurant. Restaurants have to stay on trend and worry about their reputation with every dish they serve. When you're catering in the house, there's more scope to just make things people like. 

Reason Scientific
There's also a scientific reason behind the love for trifle. It is one of those Olde English desserts which you tend to find more in the autumn/ winter. It's as the nights get longer, and the hours of daylight shorter, our serotonin and dopamine levels fall. Trifle is full of dopamine and serotonin triggering ingredients - sugar, eggs (in the sponge and custard) and cream/ milk in the custard and whipped cream topping. Maybe chocolate too if you add that. Your brain remembers how good you felt when you ate it last time and craves it again to boost your mood. Why not make it today?

What is the difference between Victoria sponge and Genoise sponge?
Victoria sponge base is the most common sponge cake in the UK due to its ease (called pound or butter cake in the US) and it is aerated by whipping butter, sugar and eggs, then folding in flour. 
Genoise is more of a batter and heated while you beat the eggs over boiling water like sabayon. Beating the eggs over heat traps air in the batter which makes the cake rise as it bakes. This way you can use less fat (butter/ shortening).


Genoise Sponge
125g Plain flour
125g Caster sugar
4 Eggs
25g Butter, melted
1/4 tsp Vanilla paste

1. Start off cooking genoise like hollandaise sauce - the eggs and sugar in a bain marie over boiling water, whipping with an electric whisk. This could take 6 - 7 minutes. 
2. The egg and sugar should have trebled in volume and be pale and thick - like sabayon.  
3. Take off the heat and fold in the flour, melted butter and vanilla. 
4. Transfer into a greased and lined 23cm springform baking tin. Bake at 180 oC for 20 - 25 minutes. You can test the centre with a skewer. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.   

You can find rose syrup in your local Indian food shop

Rose Scented Roast Rhubarb
800g Rhubarb, cleaned and cut into chunks
150g Sugar
25ml Indian rose syrup

1. Place the rhubarb in a deepish baking tin. Pour the sugar and rose syrup over and mix through.
2. Roast for 15 minutes at 180 oC till soft. Allow to cool.  

Crème Anglaise
250ml Milk
250ml Double cream
5 Egg Yolks
1 1/2 tsp Cornflour
2 - 3 tbsp Caster sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla paste (depending on strength of the one you use)

1. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and cornflour. Heat milk and cream in a stainless steel pan* till just under the boil. 
2. Pour cream mix into the egg yolk/ sugar and whisk together. 
3. Pour back into the pan and put on a medium heat, whisking to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan/ makng lumps. 

Rose Chantilly Cream
500ml Double cream
25ml Rose syrup
2 tbsp Icing sugar

Whisk these 3 things together till you form soft peaks. 

Rose Sugar
Granulated sugar
Rose syrup

In a mixing bowl mix a small bit of rose syrup through the sugar. It should turn pink. Tastes amazing too. 


Assembly
Break up the sponge in the bottom of trifle serving dish. Spoon over the rhubarb and the roasting juice, reserving some rhubarb pieces to garnish the top.  
Spread the anglaise on top, then pipe the rose chantilly cream on top. Garnish with pieces of rhubarb, the rose sugar and rose petals. 

Rose Gin and Tonic
Add some rose syrup to your normal G & T. Beautiful summer drink!

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Dairy free eton mess for a wedding near Tewkesbury

A record number of dietary requirements this year. Unlike a lot of people I do try and go out of my way to make sure they have as near to what everyone else is having as it can be. If you research recipes, and hunt down ingredients, anything is possible really, it just takes time and care! Far too many other chefs don't bother, so the gluten free, dairy free etc guests we cook for are always amazed at what we serve up for them!

Dairy free whipped cream? Easy! With a bit of help from @CocoPazzo .

Chill a tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight. It has to be good quality coconut milk with high fat content. Refrigerating it makes it split between the coconut fat and thin water at the bottom.

Scoop off the coconut fat into a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric whisk till thick. If you've really thought in advance you could chill the mixing bowl too - to prevent it heating and splitting. You can add sugar and vanilla if you want to make it slightly sweeter, like I did here.

It pipes beautifully. All the chefs and waiting staff liked the coconut whipped 'cream' version better than the normal dairy cream version - the piping bag and mixing bowl were wiped completely clean - you can't get much better recommendation than that!

If you're being hi-tech you can also use an isi gun for this. According to information received the isi gun likes 35% fat content and the average can of coconut milk is 20%, so add 2 tbsp of coconut oil to the coconut cream and mix at room temperature, then chill overnight in the fridge before putting in the isi gun. Using coconut milk with added guar gum is also another tip to help prevent the coconut cream and coconut oil from separating while chilling.

We finished this one off with dried coconut flakes and toasted coconut. Despite the fact that it helps distinguish the dairy free version from the normal one, it also adds a bit more coconut flavour! Should have added malibu!

 

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Tapas delivery near Stratford on Avon

"Oh that's at the door!"
"It's either that woman or your tapas delivery"
"It's not a woman!"

Broad Marston Manor was like one of those winter scenes you see on the front of Christmas cards. The last few miles had been dicey with the snow filled roads frozen to an ice rink. Like a bit of adventure though.
With a week full of events everything had to be made fresh on the day so it was rush-rush, hence not many new photos :(

Pan rustico - halfway to sourdough using this recipe  - so good I am going to have to make it again and try some this time. Also made corn bread like this one.

Paella - similar to this one from last year

Spicy beef empanadas

Asparagus wrapped in smoked salmon (like the ones seen above from a previous event).

Spanish style mussels in a fennel bread bowl - see how to make the bread bowls here

Brie and spinach croquettes + GLUTEN FREE version
Sides

Insalata mixta

Patatas bravas

Gluten free brazo gitano - as there were a few gluten free guests I made the whole thing gluten free. Amazingly light. - the end pieces were amazing! Filled with whipped chantilly cream and strawberries.

Whole vanilla roasted pineapple just after cooking. 

Rice pudding tarts with blood oranges + some gluten free tart cases 

(As it was a delivery the rice pudding made with half evaporated milk, tart cases and blood orange segments were delivered separately so they could simply be put together just before serving to be at their best). Definitely one to do again!

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Triple chocolate panna cotta

So we made this for a party last Saturday. 

This is one we turned out this morning to have a look. As you do. Oh and eat it of course. As you do.

We used this recipe - but just altered it to suit working on our 150ml moulds. Divided the mix into 3 and then  alternated white chocolate, milk and dark. Added a bit more dark chocolate to get a better differentiation in colour.


Related posts:

Passion fruit panna cotta

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Cheesecake recipe alert!

What? Finally giving away the cheesecake recipe? Yes! Just posted it over here.

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Movember cupcakes

Banana and peanut butter cupcakes from Vivid to raise funds for Movember 10 days ago. You can see more on their blog here, and there's a couple of cupcake recipes you can *must* try here

The Movember Foundation charity runs Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues accross the world.

As Vivid are an all female company they couldn't grow moustaches for the month of Movember (well not yet anyway) so they made these cupcakes instead and sported fake 'taches (see on link above). All good fun for a good cause!

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Vanilla poached plums

After much trial and error (and plum puree) I found the best way is to cut your plums into segments first (or halves if you prefer).

I make a sugar syrup first and thicken it - which you can do with either cornflour or arrowroot. Then remove from heat, scrape the seeds from a vanilla pod in to it, and leave the pod to infuse for ½ an hour.

Then re-heat thickened syrup, cut plums (firm ones are better - less likely to puree) and drop them in to the syrup and cook for around 5 minutes. Keep checking them - they overcook to a puree very easily. It is best to take them off the heat before they are cooked, as they carry on cooking while they cool down. Place in to large roasting tray to cool - the more more surface area they are in the quicker they will cool/ stop cooking.

Ideal served with panna cotta.

2

Baked vanilla cheesecake with blackberries

I'd been working on perfecting baked cheesecake for a while. This one is glazed on top like creme brulee which is the final touch I'd been looking for.

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