Plum and ginger trifle
Author: Paul Johnson
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- Ginger sponge:
- 225g butter
- 225g soft brown sugar
- 225g black treacle
- 2 eggs
- 350g plain flour
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 300ml milk
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Roast plums:
- 6 plums, halved and stoned
- 50g demerara sugar
- 50g honey
- Plum jelly:
- liquor from the roast plums
- 4 plums, blitzed to a purée
- 50g caster sugar
- 4 sheets gelatine
- Ginger custard:
- 200g milk
- 400g double cream
- 30g stem ginger, grated
- 10 egg yolks
- 120g sugar
- 4 tbsp custard powder
- Chantilly cream:
- 100ml double cream
- 1 vanilla pod
- 25g icing sugar
- Honeycomb:
- 160g caster sugar
- 25g honey
- 60g glucose
- 30ml water
- 8g bicarbonate of soda
- Garnish per bowl:
- ½ fresh plum, sliced
- 7-8 strips julienned stem ginger
- ½ roast plum, sliced
- honeycomb
Method
- For the ginger cake, preheat oven to 150C/Gas 2.
- Gently warm butter, treacle and brown sugar in a pan until melted.
- Whisk in eggs, flour, ginger, cinnamon and salt.
- In a separate pan warm milk and bicarb to just below boiling.
- Add to the mix, pour into 2 x 900g greased loaf tins, bake 90 mins.
- Roast plums - put plums on a baking tray. Sprinkle over sugar and drizzle with honey.
- Roast at 180C/Gas 4 for 8 mins until plums are soft but hold their shape.
- Leave to cool, reserving liquor.
- For the plum jelly, put liquor from roast plums in a pan with plum purée and caster sugar.
- Bring to a boil.
- Soak gelatine leaves in cold water until soft, squeeze out and stir into plums.
- Strain though a fine sieve.
- Layer one - divide pieces of sponge and 4 roast plums in serving bowls.
- Pour over cooled jelly mix to just cover the sponge.
- Set in the fridge.
- For the ginger custard, in a pan boil milk, cream and ginger. In a separate bowl, mix yolks, sugar and custard powder with a little milk for a smooth paste.
- Add the boiling milk and cream and mix.
- Put in a clean pan and stir over a medium heat until thickened.
- Put in a bowl covered with cling film.
- When cooled to room temperature, spread on top of the jelly in the bowls.
- Leave in the fridge to set.
- For the Chantilly cream, slice vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out seeds.
- Whisk cream with sugar and vanilla seeds until thick.
- Spoon or pipe onto the set custard in each bowl.
- For the honeycomb, line a deep oven tray with greaseproof paper.
- Put all ingredients except the bicarb in a pan and bring to a boil.
- Using a sugar thermometer, take the mix to 154C.
- Take off heat and quickly stir in the bicarb.
- The mix will bubble up - tip it straight out into the oven tray.
- Leave to cool and break into bits.
- To serve, decorate trifles with slices of fresh plum, baked plum, ginger and honeycomb.
