Trifle

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Trifle

In present times, a trifle is a dessert

Dessert

Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses....
dish made from thick (or often solidified) custard

Custard

Custard is a range of preparations based on milk and Egg s, thickened with heat. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used for quiches and other savoury foods....
, fruit

Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
, sponge cake

Sponge cake

File:Sponge cake.jpgSponge cake is a cake based on flour , sugar, and Egg s, sometimes leavened with baking powder, that derives its structure from an egg foam into which the other ingredients are folded....
, fruit juice or, more recently, jelly

Gelatin dessert

The most common culinary use for gelatin is as a main ingredient in varieties of gelatin desserts. Unprepared gelatin for desserts is often marketed as a flavored powder or concentrated gelatinous solid....
(gelatin), and whipped cream

Cream

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Encyclopedia

In present times, a trifle is a dessert

Dessert

Custard

Fruit

Sponge cake

Gelatin dessert

Cream

Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top....
. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top.

Originally a trifle was simply thick cream flavoured with sugar, ginger and rosewater. The very first known recipe was published in 1596 in a book called "The good huswife's Jewell". It wasn't until sixty years later when eggs were added and the custard was poured over alcohol soaked bread.

Some trifles contain a small amount of alcohol such as port

Port wine

Port wine is a Portuguese wine sherry from the Douro in the Norte, Portugal of Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, but also comes in dry, semi-dry and white varieties....
, or, most commonly, sweet sherry

Sherry

Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. In Spanish language, it is called Vino de Jerez....
or madeira wine

Madeira wine

Madeira is a fortified Portuguese wine made in the Madeira Islands. The wine is produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry wines which can be consumed on their own as an aperitif, to sweet wines more usually consumed with dessert....
. Non-alcoholic versions use fruit juice instead, as the liquid is necessary to moisten the cake.

One popular trifle variant has the sponges soaked in jelly (liquid-gelatin dessert) when the trifle is made, which sets when refrigerated. The cake and jelly bind together and produce a uniquely pleasant texture if made in the correct proportions (there should not be too much jelly added, or nucleation

Nucleation

Nucleation is the onset of a crystal in a small region. The phase transition can be the formation of a bubble or of a crystal from a liquid. Creation of liquid droplets in saturated vapor or the creation of gaseous bubbles in a saturated liquid is also characterized by nucleation ....
will not occur).

A trifle is often used for decoration as well as taste, incorporating the bright, layered colours of the fruit, jelly, jam, and the contrast of the creamy yellow custard and white cream.

Trifles are often served at Christmas

Christmas

Christmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts Twelve Days of Christmas....
time, sometimes as a lighter alternative to the much denser Christmas pudding

Christmas pudding

Christmas pudding is the dessert traditionally served on Christmas day. It has its origins in England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving a lot of dried fruit....
.

A Creole trifle (also sometimes known as a 'Russian cake') is a different but related dessert item consisting of pieces of a variety of cakes mixed together and packed firmly, moistened with alcohol (commonly red wine or rum

Rûm

R?m, also Roum or Rhum , is a very indefinite term used at different times in the Muslim world to refer to the Balkans and Anatolia generally, and for the Byzantine Empire in particular, for the Seljuk Sultanate of R?m in Asia Minor, and for Greeks inhabiting Ottoman Empire or modern Turkey territory as well as for Greek Cypriots....
) and a sweet syrup or fruit juice, and chilled. The resulting cake contains a whirlpool of colour and flavour. Bakeries in New Orleans have been known to produce such cakes out of their leftover or imperfect baked goods.

In France, a dessert similar to trifle is known as diplomate which explains the production of such trifle-like in New Orleans. In Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, a dessert similar to trifle is known as zuppa inglese
Zuppa Inglese

Zuppa Inglese, is a custard-based dessert.It is possibly Italian in origin, but may also be derived from the trifle or tipsy cake, popular British desserts....
, meaning English Soup.