My Favorite English Trifle Recipes

As a child during the 1970s my Nanna used to make us the best English trifle. Tradiitonally she would make it on a Sunday, and when we went to visit her for tea, the trifle would have center stage on the table.

I would like to share with you my favorite English trifle recipes: the traditional English trifle recipe that my Nanna used and I still use today, and also, as a bonus I will share my secret modern day trifle that I derived from her original recipe - Expat Mamasita's Black Forest trifle, that is reminiscent of Black Forest Gateaux, which was the height of sophistication at any 1970s party.

I hope that you enjoy making and eating the best sherry trifle as much as me and my family have enjoyed it.

Tea is not only the quintessentially English drink, but it is also the term given to a meal taken in the early evening.

Traditionally afternoon tea was a light meal taken during late afternoon, consisting of delicate sandwiches and cakes, and was considered to be an upper class preoccupation.

High tea on the other hand was the evening meal of the working classes, generally eaten in late afternoon to early evening.

According to sites such as "put learning first" If you call it "tea", and eat it at around half past six, you are almost certainly working class or of working class origin."

As a child we had tea with my paternal grandmother, Nanna Taylor, most Sundays.

We would arrive at her house during the late afternoon and would eat at about 5pm, not formally at the table, but sat in front of the television with a tea plate balanced on our knee.

Sunday tea would consist of sandwiches - boiled ham or tinned salmon, small sausage rolls, pork pies, salad - and by salad I mean lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes with no fancy dressing, followed by apple pie with cream and if we were lucky her sherry trifle, washed down with a cup of English tea (definitely with milk and maybe sugar but never with lemon!).

Trifle was a treat for Sunday's, and not every Sunday, and the recipe I am sharing with you below is the same one that my Nanna used to make for us.

So, you are going to ask what made it the best?

I'll share a little secret with you. It didn't matter that it was made with canned fruit instead of fresh, with Birds custard instead of home made, that she put slightly too much sherry in it for my childish taste buds, or that it was topped with hundreds and thousands (sprinkles) instead of fancy decorations.

My Nanna was not someone who enjoyed spending hours in the kitchen, she didn't make cordon-bleu meals or bake fancy cakes, but what she did make for us she made with love.

And it was that love that made her trifle the very best.

If the jello requires 1 pint of water on the instructions, use 3/4 of a pint instead.

This will help your jello to have a firm consistency.

As a bonus I am going to share with you my Black Forest trifle recipe.

Inspired by the trifle's that my Nanna made for me as a child, I made the yummy adult trifles for Senor Cicak's birthday meal.

I made these as individual trifles, using glass tumblers, but I have previously made it as a full size trifle and it was equally as scrumptious.