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From The Times

March 20, 2009

Apricot tipsy trifle

Lindsey Bareham

Serves 8
Prep: 1 hr (plus a minimum of 4hr chilling)
Cook: 30 min

Ingredients
For the syllabub:
1 lemon
100ml pale cream sherry
2 tbsp brandy or whisky
50g caster sugar
250ml double cream

For the trifle:

150g Amaretti biscuits
6 tbsp pale cream sherry

For the apricot jam:

250g dried apricots
6 juicing oranges (yielding approx 250ml juice)
½ vanilla pod
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp traditional marmalade

For the custard:

½ vanilla pod
250ml milk
250ml whipping cream
5 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 tbsp caster sugar

Decoration:
Angelica and silver balls

Method

Begin with the syllabub. Remove the zest from the lemon in wafer-thin pieces. Place in a bowl, squeeze in
the lemon juice and add the sherry and brandy. Stir in the caster sugar, stirring until dissolved. Cover and
leave to macerate for as long possible; at least 1hour but up to 24hours. Strain the liquid into a mixing bowl.
Add the cream gradually, whisking by hand with a globe whisk as you pour, for at least 5min until holding
soft but firm peaks. Do not overbeat. Chill, covered with clingfilm, until required.

Crumble 12-16 Amaretti biscuits in the base of a deep dish, preferably glass so that you can see the layers,
or, if making individual trifles, 1-2 biscuits in the bottom of 8 glasses. Spoon over the sherry and leave to
macerate.

Place the apricots in a medium pan. Remove 2 strips of orange zest from one orange, then squeeze the
juice over the apricots. Add the zest. Split the vanilla lengthways. Add it and the honey to the pan. Bring
slowly to the boil, stirring to dissolve the honey, bashing the vanilla to release the seeds. Turn the heat very

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low, cover and leave to simmer gently for 30min until the apricots are very soft and most of the juice
absorbed. Remove the vanilla. Set aside two of the firmest apricots, then tip the contents of the pan into the
bowl of a food processor, scraping up all the juice. Add the marmalade and blitz until smooth. Spoon the
thick purée over the biscuits.

Next, begin the custard. Split the vanilla lengthways and place in a medium pan with the milk and cream.
Bring slowly to the boil, giving the vanilla a good bash to release the seeds, and immediately remove from
the heat. Cover and leave to infuse.

Beat the egg yolks and whole egg with the sugar until smooth and fluffy. Strain the hot vanilla cream into the
egg mixture, whisking constantly as you do. Pour back into the pan and cook over a very low heat, stirring
constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard turns thick and voluptuous and coats the back of a spoon.
This takes about 15min and needs constant vigilance. Do not let the custard boil. If you see a blip erupt on
the surface, remove from the heat and whisk vigorously to disperse.

Pass the thick, vanilla-flecked custard thourough a sieve to cover the apricot jam. Spread evenly with a
palette knife. Cover with a taut stretch of clingfilm (to avoid a skin forming) and leave to cool. Chill in the
fridge for at least 2hours.

Spoon the chilled syllabub over the chilled custard in a swirly way and decorate with pieces of the reserved
apricot, silver balls and angelica. Cover (without disturbing the surface) and chill for 2 to 24 hours before
serving.

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