It's an easy enough recipe:
• 5 leaves Gelatine
• Juice of half a lemon (optional)
• 1.1kg Raspberries (1kg can be frozen, defrosted first)
• 2-3 Tablespoons Rosewater (add sparingly to taste)
• 100g Icing Sugar
Mix the sugar with 300ml cold water in a large heatproof bowl, then add 1kg raspberries and stir until well mixed – don’t worry if some get crushed. Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water, cover and turn down the heat as low as it will go.
Leave for an hour, making sure it doesn’t boil dry. Remove the bowl from the pan and leave it to cool for at least an hour. Line a sieve with clean muslin or some other thin material and put it over a tall bowl, then tip in the fruit and juices. Leave to drain for about an hour, stirring once or twice without pressing the fruit through. You should be left with about 500ml juice. Taste and stir in a little more sugar, or lemon juice, if necessary, and rosewater to taste – this is strong so start off small. Put the gelatine leaves into cold water to soften. Once pliable, heat about 200ml of the raspberry juice in a small pan and stir in the gelatine until completely dissolved.
The above quantity is enough for a trifle so adjust accordingly if using it for something else.
My trifle isn't traditional really - I never really liked a sherry trifle and prefer the tartness of raspberry. I also hate sponge so leave that out and replace it with fresh raspberries. I do the Mary Berry custard, adding gelatine to help it set slightly and top it with a cream and mascerpone topping and honeycomb crumbs.