On June 12, the Jane Austen Society met at the elegant home of Kimberly Brangwin on Queen Anne. Several Queen Anne and Magnolia residents were in attendance, many of them in beautifully authentic 18th-century costumes. All greeted the speaker, John Beresford Welsh, LL.B., representing the persona of General Rochambeau attired in full dress uniform of the period resplendent with masses of gold braid, three-cornered hat, sword and cane. He gave a very interesting talk about the French connection during the American War of Independence.
The talk was followed by a very proper English tea, complete with cucumber sandwiches, lemon tarts and all the trimmings. The place of honor on the table was held by a genuine English trifle in all its glory, created expertly by the hostess. This multi-layered and textured dessert has been a British favorite in various forms of custards since the time of Jane Austen.
The traditional custard is made from egg yolks, cream and sugar, with various flavors. The thinner variety is used as a topping over puddings and pies of every description; the firmer sort becomes egg custard, crème brulé or custard pie filling.
In Victorian times, when everything became more opulent, the custard experience was enhanced with brandy, sherry and spongecake. Add a topping of whipped cream, sliv- ered almonds and cherries glacé, and you have created the delectable, very English dessert known today as trifle. (It has other names, too: in Australia it's a flummery; elsewhere, wymm whame, kings custard and orange trifle.)
Trifle takes two to three days to prepare, and in these cholesterol-conscious times I don't make it as often as I used to. I add Jell-O and frozen raspberries, and have had a few failures with the Jell-O not setting because of my being overgenerous with the sherry.
My most truculent trifle tale occurred many years ago, in the late '60s, when my husband and I were new to Seattle and Queen Anne Hill. We were invited to a large party on the Eastside given by someone in the diplomatic service. My husband kindly volunteered to bring a trifle, which of course I was to create.
In those days I faithfully followed recipes and devotedly made everything from scratch. Carefully baking two Victorian spongecakes, collecting two dozen eggs, four pints of cream, cherries, brandy, sherry and all the other ingredients, I turned out a true work of art. The various layers were allowed to marinate for several days, till I finally added a thick layer of custard, which was gold and shiny, without a bubble to be seen.
The ultimate step was to add the whipped cream - specifically, piped, whipped-cream roses in which the cherries were nestled. Not just ordinary cherries, but the finest Yakima cherries, marinated in brandy. They were the best that the specialty gourmet shop at Frederick & Nelson could offer. I tied a red-white-and-blue ribbon with a bow around the bowl, and nestled it with tissue paper in a suitably sized cardboard box, and we were ready to go on safari to the wilds of Woodinville, wherever that might be.
Leaving the civilization of our familiar Queen Anne Hill behind us, we knew we had to go over the toll bridge to Bellevue. Now this was something I didn't have to worry about. The navigation was left to my dear husband, who was after all a Seattle native (albeit one just returned after spending 20 years in England). My only concern was for the trifle, which so far seemed to be holding up well ... although the weather was warm, and the car had no air conditioning.
After two hours of exploring suburbia in Bellevue and Redmond, I realized that we really were lost, on an unpaved road, in an unfinished housing subdivision. We had been told our destination was a large, modern, A-frame building. After further wanderings, we found a large A-frame house with a lot of cars outside and a party going on. Thank heavens, we had arrived.
The only parking was on a bumpy, adjacent vacant lot. Next step was to get the trifle into the house, and all would be well. But my poor trifle had developed several serious San Andreas faults. There were large cracks in the cream and the custard, with the cherries perched precariously on the edge. Some had already sunk into the void. Not a pretty sight!
We got safely to the house; someone greeted me, handed me a drink and pointed the way to the kitchen. How to salvage my poor trifle? The ingredients were really far too good to waste. I looked around this huge, very modern kitchen and saw several punchbowls with glass cups around them on surrounding shelves. Finding a large spoon, I carefully filled the salvaged trifle into the glass cups and cut the cherries in half; not everyone got a cherry, but they did get whipped cream swirled with a fork.
Then my husband, bless him, remembered some Union Jacks (British flags) in the car left over from an English cheese promotion. We stuck one on each of our little trifles, which were a great success, with people oohing and aahing and coming back for more.
It was a lovely party even though we didn't know anyone, but being friendly souls, we introduced ourselves, our fame already established as being the trifle providers, and we had a great time. After obtaining detailed directions for how to get back to Queen Anne Hill, we collected our bowl and left. We couldn't find or host and hostess to say goodnight, but the house was so huge they could have been anywhere.
The next morning we received a concerned call from the people at the consulate, asking what had happened to us, and how was the trifle?...
That's right, we went to the wrong party! We never did find out who our hosts were.
Times have really changed. No more toll bridges, no more Frederick & Nelson, and a cellphone could have saved the day as well as the trifle.
Even my trifle has become somewhat more streamlined. The custard is made from a package of Bird's custard powder with 2-percent milk instead of cream, Sara Lee frozen pound cake and frozen raspberries (I've omitted the Jell-O), and it is still a delicious treat for special occasions.
Linda's Special Trifle
Collect all the ingredients as above, and
1. Cut the pound cake into 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch slices. Place a layer on the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 12-cup straight-sided glass bowl (or if you wish in individual glass bowls).
2. With a pastry brush, soak the pieces of cake with the sherry, taking care to leave enough to soak the remaining two layers of cake.
3. Spread the cake generously with 1/3 of the Raspberry Preserves.
4. Spoon 1 1/2 cups cooled custard over the preserve-covered cake.
5. Repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 twice more. (Up to this point the trifle can be made, covered and stored up to two days.)
6. One or two hours before serving, whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla until stiff, but not dry. Spoon over the custard, swirling the top, or pipe through a pastry tube in design of your choice.
7. Garnish with almonds or chocolate. Refrigerate until serving time, and enjoy.
TT (Trifle Trifle) FN.
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