Orange and ginger cake trifle
By:
Tom Shingler
Head of food, delicious.
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Published: 15 Nov 22
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Updated: 18 Mar 24
Orange trifle makes a glorious Christmas dessert. Orange jelly is topped with ginger cake, white choc pannacotta and an unapologetically thick layer of Eton Mess cream.
Prefer the classic combo of raspberry jelly and custard? Try our traditional English trifle.
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Serves 6-8
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Hands-on time 35 min, plus at least 2 hours chilling
Ingredients
- 1 (225g) Jamaican ginger cake, cut into 3cm pieces
- 4 tbsp triple sec or other orange liqueur
For the jelly
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 500ml smooth orange juice, or any citrus juice you fancy
- 2 sachets vege-gel (enough to set 2 pints – check the instructions)
- Juice 1 lime
For the panna cotta
- 500g double cream
- 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped, or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1 sachet vege-gel (enough to set 1 pint)
- 100g white chocolate, chopped
For the Eton Mess cream
- 300g double cream
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 3 meringue nests
For the toppings
- 1 orange
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- Sprinkles to decorate
Specialist kit
Method
- For the jelly, put all the ingredients in a saucepan and whisk thoroughly until the vege-gel has dissolved. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, remove from the heat, allow to cool slightly, then pour the mixture into the trifle dish. Leave to cool then put the dish in the fridge to set (at least an hour).
- Meanwhile, make the panna cotta. Put the cream, vanilla (pod and seeds or paste) and vege-gel in a saucepan, whisk thoroughly, then bring to the boil. Add the chocolate, remove from the heat and whisk until the chocolate has melted. Strain through a fine sieve into a jug, then set aside while you wait for the jelly to set. Give the panna cotta a stir every now and then to help it thicken evenly, but don’t chill it – otherwise it’ll set before it goes in the trifle dish.
- Once the jelly has set, put the cake in a bowl and sprinkle over the triple sec, tossing it to ensure an even coating, then arrange the cake on top of the set jelly, squishing the pieces against the glass to create a neat layer. Pour the panna cotta over the top, then put the trifle back in the fridge to set once more (for at least another hour).
- Meanwhile, finely zest the orange and set the zest aside. Cut the orange into thin wedges, then lay the pieces flat on a small metal tray. Dust with icing sugar, then either pop the tray under a ferociously hot grill for a minute or 2 or use a blowtorch to char them. Set aside.
- Whip the double cream and caster sugar to soft peaks, then crumble in the meringue nests, folding to combine. Spoon the eton mess cream on top of the panna cotta, then top with zest, burnt orange segments and sprinkles.
Recipe from December 2022 Issue
Nutrition
Nutrition: per serving
- Calories
- 751kcals
- Fat
- 60.65g (36.6g saturated)
- Protein
- 4.4g
- Carbohydrates
- 43.2g (35.6g sugars)
- Fibre
- 0.8g
- Salt
- 0.3g
delicious. tips
Next time: How you layer your trifle is up to you – we always begin with the jelly, as it needs the longest time to set, then go cake, custard, cream. But if you like your cake in the jelly, or custard before cake, it’s all good; after all, once it’s spooned into your bowl it doesn’t really matter anyway.
Easy swaps: If you’re not a fan of ginger, you can swap the cake for a golden syrup cake; it has the same dense stickiness.
The jelly layer can be made up to 2 days in advance. Try to make it at least the night before – the beauty of trifle is that it’s actually very easy – you just need to have the time to let everything firm up. So don’t add unnecessary stress with half-set jelly!
Vege-gel is available in supermarkets and often used as an alternative to gelatine. It works slightly differently (thickening once a mixture is boiled, a little like cornflour) and sets slightly firmer than traditional jellies – but we think that’s a good thing when it comes to trifle. We used Dr Oetker Vege-gel – each sachet sets 1 pint of liquid, but do check the instructions