Christmas Recipes: Trifle meets sticky toffee pudding

“I wanted something that would have people raising their dessert spoons as if they were swords for that last bite. . .” Hannah Gregory, Velvet’s resident recipe writer, gives the classic Christmas trifle a serious glow-up

There are few things as synonymous with the festive period as a good old trifle. However, my love affair with the classic British pud is relatively new. The job of assembling - I say assembling because there was minimal cooking involved - was always tasked to my grandmother. A loyalist to Princes tinned mandarin segments and Hartley’s jelly packs, not to mention supermarket own-brand Swiss roll, the result was not the stuff childhood dreams are made of, although I’m sure if someone presented me with it now, sheer nostalgia would override all negative memories.

In recent years the trifle seems to have had a bit of a glow-up. A quick whirl around greatbritishchefs.com and you will see hundreds of iterations, varying from slightly elevated versions of the classic to modern flavour pairings with set custards and Champagne-laced jellies. Bury-based chef James Carn’s seasonal trifles have become the stuff of local (and national) legend at his award-winning restaurant LARK, with diners clambering to get their mitts on whatever the current month’s version may be.

When it came to creating this recipe, I knew I wanted to tick a few boxes - festive, comforting, nostalgic, moreish. I didn’t want to create a dish that was destined to sit at the back of a fridge until New Year’s Eve (as Gran’s trifle often did). I wanted something that would have people raising their dessert spoons as if they were swords for that last bite. I wanted ‘fingers sweeping around the side of the bowl to get every last morsel’ deliciousness. And so, the STPT was born - because there is nothing, NOTHING more delicious than a good sticky toffee pudding and its accompaniments. Plus, with this dish we can finally end the age old debate of custard or cream with your STP, because this has both.

The addition of the layer of lightly cooked booze-laden toffee apples gives the dish bite and freshness and keeps Granny happy as she firmly believes a trifle isn’t a trifle without a glug or two of alcohol plus a tipple for the chef. You could of course omit this for a sober/child-friendly version. I opted to use shop bought custard - I know, call the police! If you are a purist and prefer to make yours from scratch, hats off to you. At Christmas I place myself firmly in the ‘work smarter not harder’ camp. So there you have it. Go forth, be gluttonous and enjoy!

Sticky Toffee Pudding & Toffee Apple Trifle

Serves 8

What you need:

For the STP:

● 225g medjool dates

● 1 tsp vanilla paste

● 175g self-raising flour

● 1 tsp bicarb

● 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

● ¼ tsp ground cloves

● ¼ tsp allspice

● ¼ tsp ground ginger

● ¼ tsp nutmeg

● 2 eggs

● 85g butter

● 140g demerara sugar

● 2 tbsp treacle

● 100ml milk

For the toffee sauce:

● 250g muscovado sugar

● 100g butter

● 225ml double cream

● 1 tbsp black treacle

For the toffee custard:

● 500g custard

● 2 tbsp reserved toffee sauce from above

For the toffee apples:

● 6 Braeburn apples

● 2 tbsp light brown sugar

● 25g butter

● ½ tsp ground cinnamon

● Pinch of salt

● Glug of festive booze (Calvados/Amaretto/Spiced Rum/Sherry)

● 2 tbsp reserved toffee sauce from above

For the cream:

● 500ml whipping cream

● 1 tsp vanilla powder

● 1 tbsp toffee sauce reserved from above

How you do it:

1. First up, make the sticky toffee pudding. Destone and chop your dates, pop into a bowl and cover with boiling water whilst you crack on with the other bits.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C and butter and flour a cake tin - you will be breaking up the finished sponge pudding so don’t worry too much about shape.

3. Sift together the flour and bicarbonate of soda and put to the side.

4. Whisk your eggs together and put to the side.

5. In a stand mixer, beat the sugar and butter until combined.

6. Add the eggs a little at a time until combined.

7. Beat in the treacle.

8. Using a metal spoon, fold in the flour bicarb mix and the spices. Once the dry ingredients are combined, add in the milk and vanilla paste, folding gently until all mixed together.

9. Using a stick blender, blitz the soaked dates to a chunky puree and stir into the pudding mix.

10. Transfer the mix to your prepared cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

11. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

12. To make the toffee sauce, melt together the butter and sugar with the double cream over a medium heat. Stir constantly until everything has melted and it begins to boil.

13. Add the treacle, turn the heart down low and stir until the sauce reaches a dark toffee colour. (This will yield a lot of sauce but you’re using it in each element - plus it gives grace for bowl licking.) Cover and pop to the side.

14. Peel and core the apples and chop into chunks.

15. Add the chopped apples, butter, salt, sugar and cinnamon to a pan and cook gently, making sure everything is combined and the apples are glossy and lightly softened, about eight minutes.

16. Turn the heat up high and add your booze of choice, if using, and the toffee sauce. Keep stirring until the toffee coats the apples. Put to the side to cool.

17. To make the custard, transfer it to a bowl with the toffee sauce and whisk to loosen and combine.

18. Whip the cream with the vanilla powder to soft peaks being careful not to overwork it. Stir through the reserved toffee sauce.

19. To assemble, rip the pudding into pieces and use them to line the bottom of a trifle bowl. Pour over a thin layer of the toffee sauce.

20. Add the custard using the back of a spoon to push it into all the nooks and crannies.

21. Layer over the cool apples and top with the whipped cream and a drizzle of toffee sauce.

22. If you can, I suggest placing it in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up the layers but no judgement if you need to eat it straight away!

A former BBC MasterChef quarter finalist, Hannah runs supper club, pop-up and private chef service WanderSups - “serving meals created with love, inspired by journeys around the world, dished up on home turf” - and is the brains behind TACOR, the new neighbourhood taqueria in Bury St Edmunds. To find out more follow @WanderSups and/or @tacor_taqueria or visit wandersups.com.