Black Forest Trifle

Chocolate and cherries are an ideal amalgamation in this trifle.

Ingredients serve 12

Chocolate cake

50 g chopped dark chocolate

30 g butter

4 eggs (200g)

150 g caster sugar

90 g plain flour

30 g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

Chocolate custard

1200 g milk

100 g caster sugar

100 g custard powder

200 g dark chocolate

Cherry jelly

1 can pitted cherries with juice (700g)

300 g caster sugar

20 g gelatine leaves, softened in cold water

To decorate

600 ml whipped cream

Chocolate shavings

Icing sugar

Method

To make the chocolate cake, preheat the oven to 180 C normal bake. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water and stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from the heat and keep warm. Whisk eggs and sugar in an electric mixer until creamy approx. 6 minutes. Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a bowl. Fold the flour mixture into the egg mix and pour into a greased 20 cm round cake tin. Bake in the oven for approx. 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow cooling before placing covered in the fridge.

To make the jelly, place the juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until sugar is melted, take off the heat and mix in the cherries. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatin leaves and stir gelatine into the cherry mixture. Pour mixture into a container and store covered for at least three hours until jelly is stiff.

To make chocolate custard, place 1000 ml milk and caster sugar in a cooking pot on the stove and bring to the boil (don’t stir sugar in the milk). Mix custard powder and 200 ml milk in a small bowl. Melt chocolate and when the milk is boiling add custard mix while whisking until thickened, then mix in the melted chocolate. Pour into a container and cover with cling wrap. Allow cooling in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

To assembling the trifle, place the chocolate cake broken into pieces in the bottom of a bowl. Drizzle with Kirsch and place cherry jelly evenly on top of the cake, then the chocolate custard, followed by the whipped cream. Garnish with chocolate shavings and dust with icing sugar.

Note: If you don’t have Kirsch or Cherry Brandy use cherry flavoured sugar syrup.