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TRIFLE (en Surprise)
Take a round Madeira cake about a pound and a half in weight, and scoop the middle out, leaving the bottom and sides three-quarters of an inch thick. The top should first be cut straight off. Then crumble a third of the removed portion, and soak it in three gills of hot custard, flavoured to taste; when cold mix in a gill of whipped cream, sweetened and flavoured. Moisten the outer wall of cake with a little sherry or Madeira; then spread the inner part of it with any nice stoneless jam. Soak a few ounces of ratafia and macaroon biscuits in wine, and proceed to fill the cake, using the biscuits and the soaked part of the cake in alternate layers. Replace the top, which may be covered with bright jelly of any kind or whipped cream, and tastefully ornament the base of the cake in a similar manner. Probable cost, 4s. 6d.
A trifle built inside a hollowed-out Madeira cake rather than a glass bowl ilsoaked filling stays hidden until the top is lifted off. The whole thing is assembled cold, so success depends on judging how much wine each component can absorb.
- The hinge: moisten, do not drenchThe cake shell is structural. Brush the outer wall with a tablespoon or two of sherry at most ilthe filling itself carries plenty of liquid, and a saturated shell will slump when you cut it.
- GillsAn imperial gill is 5 fl oz, so three gills of custard is about 15 fl oz (roughly 1 times3/4 US cups) and a gill of cream is 5 fl oz. Whip the cream to soft peaks before folding it into the cold custard.
- Madeira cakeA plain, close-grained butter pound cake, not a sponge. A 1 times1/2 lb round baked in a deep 7 timesinch tin is about right; an airy sponge disintegrates once wine hits it.
- Ratafias and macaroonsBoth are almond biscuits, dry and crisp; Italian amaretti and hard almond macaroons are the closest current equivalents. Coconut macaroons are a later variety and will not work here.
- Stoneless jamJam free of stones, such as apricot or a smooth, sieved raspberry. Stones and pieces of fruit skin are unwelcome in a dish this soft.
- Flavoured to tasteVanilla, or a strip of lemon zest infused in the milk, is period timesappropriate. If a recipe of this era says almond flavouring, use almond extract; do not follow older sources that call for bitter almonds or ratafia essence made from them.
- CustardMake a stirred egg custard ilabout 4 yolks to 15 fl oz of milk iland cook it to 175 times180F so it coats a spoon. Cool it fully before the cream goes in, or the cream will deflate.
- Chilling and yieldAssemble, cover, and refrigerate at least four hours so the layers set enough to slice; overnight is better. Serves 8 to 10 in wedges.
- Probable cost4s 6d was a substantial outlay for a pudding, a clue that this was company food.
Trifle in England began in the sixteenth century as little more than sweetened, flavoured cream, and only gradually acquired the sponge, wine and custard that now define it; by the nineteenth century it was the standard grand cold pudding of the English table. In the en surprise treatment here the pleasure is in the concealment, and the dish is not revealed until the lid of cake is lifted at table. Cassell's appears to place it among a long run of trifle variants, which would suggest how thoroughly the form had been standardised ilthe compilers assume the reader already knows what custard and whipped cream are for and need only be told where to put them. Ratafia biscuits took their name from the almond-flavoured cordial.