AIBU to think this is not trifle....

[fairydustallover]

Layer of jelly, layer of custard, layer of whipped cream, bits on top.

No sponge. No sherry. No fruit.

How very dare you, Onyx. Orange is the new black.

Trifle, of all classes, is just wrong!

Defo jelly and fruit in my house. The jelly isn't jelly-ish, it just soaks the truffle sponges and binds it all together with the fruit. Have this debate regularly with MIL as she is a jelly doubter...
But as someone said upthread, without jelly and fruit, isnt it just cake, custard and cream??!

Or trifle sponges even...

Truffle sponges might be REALLY posh, Ethel!

That sounds exactly like MIL/SIL's trifles .

I grew up in a house where trifle had soggy sherry soaked sponge (yuk), fruit cocktail, a thin shelf of jelly topped with cold custard (boak) & topped with whipped cream, chocolate shavings & glace cherries.

Funnily enough, we have been to MIL's house today and DH & I had the usual "do you want trifle?" "that's not a trifle" conversation . Only DH knows my views though, I wouldn't be rude enough to say anything to MIL or SIL.

I don't have a trifle recipe, I have a trifle map which my mum drew for me when I left home. And ThePoppy it sounds just like your family's trifle - sponge fingers soaked in sherry, fruit cocktail out of a tin , custard and whipped cream. Hundreds and Thousands added at the last minute. Yum. MIL's trifle has Angel Delight in it - boak - and no cake in sight.

Trifle is whatever you were brought up with - cake or no cake, sherry or no sherry, as long as it gives you pleasure, where's the problem?!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifle

Jelly has been in trifle since 1747 at least. How much longer does it need to have been an ingredient for it to be part of a trifle? I hate the sponge in a trifle, OP, so what you were served would have suited me (although I do like some fruit in it) but I wouldn't have called it a trifle.

YANBU

Trifle never ever contains jelly.
It must contain too much sherry.

Or quantro (mandarin oranges on top of quantro soaked sponge, then custard and cream is yummy)

Madeira cake soaked in mixed berries with raspberry liquore. Ambrosia custard mixed with mascarpone and vanilla on top then whipped cream.

Now that's a trifle.

Trifle is

Sponge fingers soaked in something boozy
Tinned fruit cocktail
Red jelly
Custard
Whipped cream
Hundred and thousands (applied too early so slightly run)

Served in a cut glass bowl only used for trifle

Seeing my mum this week - am looking forward to her trifle!

Does anyone else eat it at the start of their meal though.......?

I'm with Frankinscence, Elphaba and Dragon. Jelly does NOT belong and never has done in a trifle. Just ask my mum.

Do people really do what is 'proper' rather than what they prefer the taste of? Another mn moment where I am reminded I am firmly working class.

All the boys in our family insist on trifle made with booze soaked sponge with jelly poured over it to set, layer of custard, layer of cream. There was nearly a 'Christmas is going to be ruined' moment when I thought 'd run out of sprinkles but found some lurking in the back of cupboard.

Goes in DH's handed down cut glass bowl and is ceremoniously carried to my parents house (we've dropped the parade and the flags now...)

All the girls insist on a proper pudding like my sister's cheesecake...

Jelly doesn't belong in a trifle - sponge, fruit and sherry, custard, fresh cream (not the stuff in a tin)

We had a banana and toffee trifle yesterday at my Mums and very scrummy it was too!!!

Trifle is:

Layer of jelly
Layer of custard
Layer of lady fingers
Layer of beef (sautéed with onions and peas)
Layer of custard
Layer of whipped cream.

Mmmmmmmmm

DragonMamma - I have to agree. Trifle should never have Jelly in it!

Beef?!?!! Like on Friends?