Trifle is NOT trifle unless it has jelly, I don't care if its "common" or not.

[SKIPWAY]

Watching Marry Berry, she's made trifle with juice, sherry, custard and cream, no jelly. The cake soaked in jelly is literally the best bit!!!
Normally I like to be a bit fancy in the kitchen for special occasions but this is a hill I'm prepared to die on.
What other things are a must have for you but are considered a bit "common"

No jelly in Delia’s recipe.

My brother married a Cordon Bleu cook and she offered to make trifle the first year they were together. I wish mobile phones had been around then to capture the shocked and horrified looks on our faces when she presented us with a trifle without jelly or blancmange !!! It did taste lovely and was a 'proper' one with proper custard according to tradition but as we grew up in the 70s, a trifle was jelly and sponge fingers/swiss roll, then a layer of pink blancmange, then custard, then another pink layer then whipped cream followed by copious amounts of Hundreds and Thousands!

You speak your truth sister 😆

Seeing as people have mentioned Eton Mess...

One time I went for Sunday lunch at my in-laws (back when I was still married) and there was a large bowl of pink mud with lumps sitting on the worktop. The mixing spoon was still in the bowl, standing straight up due to the glutinous nature of the unidentified gloop.

I asked XH, in a whisper, what it might be. He said it was Eton Mess. I said it couldn't be. He said yes it was, that his father had always made it like that. (Obviously XH was ALWAYS RIGHT so arguing was pointless. And would've been a bit rude)

It was an abomination. XFIL had beaten that poor mixture until it died. When it came to spooning it out, XMIL had to shake the spoon many times to persuade it to part company.

I love Eton Mess. I do not love sticky pink cement mix.

Ah, trifle is only a proper trifle if you have made all the components yourself, from scratch. Jelly (BUT ONLY home-made) may then be included.

Cheese and pineapple
Vinegar on chips
I love jelly and definitely a key component in trifle

There's nothing common about Tunnocks Teacakes. They sell them in Waitrose! And you can get them with dark chocolate. Just bought a big box for Christmas (from Sainsbury's).

Trifle is fucking awful. I don't understand how I can like: cake, jelly, cream, custard when served alone or in any other combination that isn't fucking trifle, but hate trifle

They sell them in Waitrose! And you can get them with dark chocolate.

Well then 😆

Jelly in trifle is wrong.

Chocolate cake, kirsch (or just a berry juice), black cherries, lovely vanilla custard, cream only if you must (I hate it), and grated chocolate on top.

Peaches and sherry are an acceptable alternative, but only with a plain sponge, and no chocolate on top for that one - flaked almonds instead.

@Shodan
🤣🤣Thanks for cheering me up this morning, your description of your XFIL's Eton mess made me laugh! Hope it tasted better than it looked!

Yes same, except for the jelly

it Is just a sloppy gloopy mess

My Mum used to make trifle with just cake and custard with cream on the top. The hot custard was flavoured with sherry and poured onto the cake. No fruit and no jelly ever. I hate trifle with fruit or jelly in it.
We were definitely working class, my Mum was a mill girl from Bolton.

For the blancmange doubters, it gives you a very set custard layer, rather than the runnyness you would get with custard

Trifle isn't supposed to be a sophisticated dessert. It's supposed to be 1970s and tacky. It's not supposed to take itself too seriously. So it should have jelly in it.

It can't be trifle without jelly, not possible

Coffee has to be black (for me, just a taste thing)

This ..white sliced bread....toasted if possible

oh darling, you're thinking of working class pears. Jamie Oliver would only ever use middle class tinned pears but Mary Berry wouldn't touch those with a barge uh I mean, a yacht pole. Her tinned pears are from Oxfordshire pear Gardens and are tinned in gold not tin, for they are very very upper class pears.

Toast has to be plain white bread, not sourdough infused with eye of newt urine and sprinkled with bats teardrops

Alright I may have exaggerated a little

For me its a yes to the jelly but no to the sponges in it. Hate jelly with sponge, its just wrong!

No jelly! nothing about being WC/MC, just jelly has a horrible slippery texture which I can't stand. Sponge soaked in booze, crushed up raspberries (lots) and/or a tin or two of fruit cocktail, bit more booze, thick custard, whipped cream, top it with either flaked almonds or chocolate curls (or both!) Now THAT'S a trifle.

No jelly here either. Just sponge, fruit, custard and cream and industrial quantities of sherry!. So now have an annual battle with DH who is in the jelly school 😂

*'Shodan · Today 09:15

Seeing as people have mentioned Eton Mess...

One time I went for Sunday lunch at my in-laws (back when I was still married) and there was a large bowl of pink mud with lumps sitting on the worktop. The mixing spoon was still in the bowl, standing straight up due to the glutinous nature of the unidentified gloop.

I asked XH, in a whisper, what it might be. He said it was Eton Mess. I said it couldn't be. He said yes it was, that his father had always made it like that. (Obviously XH was ALWAYS RIGHT so arguing was pointless. And would've been a bit rude)

It was an abomination. XFIL had beaten that poor mixture until it died. When it came to spooning it out, XMIL had to shake the spoon many times to persuade it to part company.

I love Eton Mess. I do not love sticky pink cement mix

I stir half a gelatine leaf (pre-soaked) into my trifle custard so that it’s a bit thicker than normal.

Sorry posted too soon!
😂
@Shodan your XFIL obviously missed the Eton Mess memo that you're supposed to, gently fold the ingredients! He should have renamed it Eton Mash!