Cranachan Trifle; a majestic layered dessert inspired by a Scottish classic, with chewy oat cookie, honey custard, tart raspberries and cream.
Let’s talk about trifle.
Layers of bland yet repellant wobbly sogginess. Thoughts of jelly, sherry, lumpy custard and shop bought cake fingers. A flashback to a pre-1990s era of desserts so bad that the whipped cream was the best feature.
Trifle in 2019 is unfashionable, un-instagrammable, and generally unappealing for the most part. I think it’s about time we changed that.
At the end of last December I found myself craving some kind of sexed-up trifle. The Maverick Baking kitchen created a concoction layers of cinnamon custard, clementine slices, ginger cake and vanilla cream that my family couldn’t stop eating. Since then I haven’t stopped thinking about all the ways that this old-hat dessert could be remade into incredible flavour and texture combinations. Ok, well maybe I have stopped thinking about it for brief intervals when sleeping or at funerals or whatever but you get the point.
Cut to August. Cold desserts are a must due to the uncharacteristic heat felt in North East Scotland, and there are more fresh raspberries in the shops than you can shake a stick at. Cranachan seemed like a good idea. Cranachan Trifle seemed infinitely better.
Chewy oat cookie crumbled into rough rubble, smooth honey-sweetened custard, tangy ruby red raspberries, and swirls of whisky-scented whipped cream.
This Cranachan Trifle has all the regular components of a Scottish Cranachan made into an utterly obscene dessert that is as welcome after a summer BBQ as on a Boxing Day dinner table. There’s no wrong time to eat trifle, especially one that looks this good.
A few recipe notes:
- The oat cookie in this recipe is actually a twist on the base of the Momofuku Milk Bar Crack Pie. I remember adoring its gentle oat flavour and addictive chewy-crunchy contrast. It seemed perfect to replace the regular cake layer of a trifle.
- The whisky is entirely optional, it just adds an extra patriotic twist
- The raspberries can be fresh or frozen, meaning this trifle is good at any time of year. The one you can see pictured was made with frozen berries!
- The custard is so bloody good I’d recommend making a whole batch on its own just to drink with a wide-set straw tbh
Also, don’t worry too much if you don’t have a big trifle dish like the one you see pictured. You can use this same recipe to make 6-8 individual trifles, or you can simply layer it up in a large glass bowl you have lying around!
To make this Cranachan Trifle, simply follow the recipe below!
Cranachan Trifle
Notes
BE A MAVERICK: though raspberries are traditional, tangy blackberries or even sweet late summer peaches would also be great in this trifle!
Ingredients
For the oat cookie:
- 230g soft butter
- 200g soft brown sugar or caster sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 240g rolled oats
- 160g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
For the honey custard:
- 750ml milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 4 tbsp honey (preferably Scottish honey if possible!)
- 2 tbsp cornflour
For the cream:
- 600ml double or whipping cream
- 2 tbsp Scotch whisky (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
To assemble:
- 300g Fresh or frozen raspberries (preferably Scottish ones if possible!)
Instructions
For the oat cookie:
- Preheat your oven – 190 C / 170 C / 375 F / gas mark 5.
- Grease a 20cm x 30cm (8 inch x 12 inch) tin and line its base with some greaseproof or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat together your butter and sugar for 2 minutes until fluffy and pale.
- Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well between each.
- Add the remaining cookie ingredients and mix gently until you have a sticky cookie dough.
- Press the dough (using your hand or the back of a spoon) into a flat layer in your prepared tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and firm to the touch.
- Set aside to cool completely.
For the honey custard:
- Place a medium saucepan over a medium heat.
- Pour in the milk and heat until gently steaming and hot to the touch.
- In a large bowl or jug, whisk together the egg yolks, honey and cornflour.
- Pour the hot milk slowly into the mixed ingredients, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling!
- Pour the mixture back into your milk pan and gently cook until gently bubbling and thickened into a custard consistency. This will take 5-10 minutes.
- Set the custard aside to cool completely, covered directly with clingfilm.
For the cream:
- Pour the cream and whisky/vanilla into a large bowl or jug.
- Use an electric whisk (or a regular whisk and some strong biceps) to whip it until it holds soft peaks.
- Set aside.
To assemble (once everything is made and cooled):
- Look out your trifle dish or large glass bowl.
- Crumble up half of your giant oat cookie into small chunks and scatter them over the base of your dish.
- Pour over half of your custard.
- Scatter over half of your raspberries.
- Spoon over half of your cream.
- Repeat until you have used up all your ingredients or your dish is full.
- Chill until needed or serve straight away. It tastes even better the next day!
- Enjoy!
