to think this is the most complicated recipe in the universe?

[intwrferingma]

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lemon_swiss_roll_and_42467
What a faffadoodledo. Over two hours it says. More like over two DAYS! Please share the recipes you wish you'd never started, just to make me feel less of an idiot for embarking on this kitchen odyssey.

Disappointed all they could come up with was a take on a trifle - I disgusting dessert in my opinion.

Dh once made a Tom Kerridge bolognaise which involved rinsing the mince, then baking it on an oven sheet for about 2 days - it was absolutely minging as well. I've never trusted Kerridge since then as we've tried other recipes of his, though less labour intensive, were just not nice.

What a cop out. Tinned mandarins? I've been to Japan and back for mine

I did it from scratch but started days ahead and froze the swiss roll. Did the jelly on Thursday morning, the custard in the afternoon and finished it off on Friday morning. I don't know how long it took because I did bits here and there and got on with life in between. I do think the recipe was badly written and I didn't make the elements in that order.

The beauty of the recipe is that you can buy all the layers ready made and just put it together if you want apart from the coulis. The coulis is really easy to make although I don't know why the word 'slake' was used just mix it with cold water. I didn't discard the mandarin juice either, I used it to make the coulis more pourable so it would spread better.

They did have hints to simplify it at the end of the recipe. I thought that was the whole point and the reason why it won.

Loving 'faffadoodledoo' OP :)

Agree that recipe is bonkers. Who would do that? I have a recipe book from a season the the Bake off with a recipe which looks OK but includes several elements in the style of "for creme pat, turn to page 233 (where the recipe is 6 sections long)" so I have never attempted that one. www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/326299935504082910/ It's here on pinterest

My niece made it from scratch for a family lunch yesterday. She is a brilliant cook and baker. It looked phenomenal and tasted lovely but was very very sloppy and a bit "too much". She was a bit upset actually, bless her.

I'm not even keen on trifle so of course I'm not bothering, noticed lidl was out of ready made lemon Swiss roll!

I'm making a Victoria sandwich with fresh raspberries and blueberries and cream, far tastier and red white and blue (sort of)

I’m a confident cook and no way am I attempting the Jubilee trifle. Far too faffy and time-consuming, and I’m not convinced by the tinned mandarins.

I once made the original Coronation chicken and everyone hated it, including me, despite all liking the ingredients.

Just looking at the title I knew it would be about this trifle.

I am doinga cheats version alomg the lines of @StarTwins above.

That recipe was devised to win a competition, it was always going to be ridiculously complicated

See DD entered that competition too and when we discussed it we both reached a different conclusion. We thought the best approach was to make something uncomplicated that anyone could attempt. After all, a Victoria sponge is the easiest of cakes and even Coronation Chicken is within the reach of most home cooks.

Anyway, DDs entry had just five ingredients which could all be bought at the supermarket and took about 10 minutes to prepare then an hour or two to set. I thought it was great but it certainly didn't get to the shortlist 😑

@Fizbosshoes @PangolinPie you've both nailed the Tom Kerridge effect. I look at what you have to do and up to a point it will be so far so normal. Then the next step will involve infusing x weird ingredient that needs 3 things done to it first or leaving y marinating in the fridge for a crazy long amount of time (and room). I know I could try those things- they're all simple steps on their own- or that it's just a longer version of something I already can and do do. But somehow the cumulative effort involved puts me off. So I know COULD do it/it's not impossible to do it... but the work involved puts me off. DP too.

I agree on the tinned mandarins, when using fresh is no problem.

The Swiss roll can be shop bought.

The jelly can be shop bought (mix lemon and orange?)

The custard can be shop bought and just add lemon juice.

I could not find a shop made mandarin coulis.

If you shop buy the Swiss roll, custard and jelly it isn't too bad.

Oh here we go again...

The whole point of this recipe is that you can do as little as as much from scratch as you want. You can buy lemon swiss roll, and custard, and lemon curd, and the rest of it, and just assemble. OR, you can do it all from scratch.

What was your suggestion and recipe you devised for the Jubilee Pudding, OP?

We have made a jubilee trifle the only thing we made from scratch was the Swiss rolls and 'jewelled bark' - the rest came pre made lol

Oh and arammetti biscuits from the shop.

My dad made one and it looked and tasted fantastic... but he did say it was complicated!

Also - if you watched the programme (which I think is currently being repeated on bbc1) many of the others were just as "faffy" and without the shop bought shortcuts - needed a special/expensive crown shaped tin, or you had to make things like Welsh cakes and faff with gelatine, and although the falooda one looked very nice, I would not have a clue where to find rose petal jelly in Glasgow.

This makes me quite cross. The criteria for that competition were specifically that it should be something that people could and would do at home, along similar lines to Victoria sponges and coronation chicken. Obviously no home cooks is going to try to make that from scratch, life is way too short. It seems to me that it short-changes all the people who put time and trouble into sending entries in for that competition that complied with the published criteria - if this was what the judges wanted, those people were simply wasting their time.

Sure, you can do it with shop bought ingredients, but then that's bog-standard trifle, isn't it?

Just made a version of Coronation Chicken for lunch. I'm sorry but this trifle seems like too much effort for little reward. It doesn't seem 'special' enough although it was probably the best in the competition. Not that I could do better, heaven forbid.

@5foot5 ooo can you share your daughter's recipe? I'm intrigued..

I also wasn't impressed that recipes involving edible flowers and gold leaf made it to the final. WTF? Also the ones with booze in - I like a bit of booze, but it's hardly a national jubilee recipe if a hefty selection of the population can't use one of the main ingredients.

I completed it - people said it was delicious.