Saturday 18 April 2015

Going Vanilla-laa-laa with Baking Mad: Rhubarb and Ginger Trifle with Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste *RECIPE*


Over Easter I made a blooming delicious variation on a traditional trifle using a fabulous recipe from Baking Mad

If you haven't discovered it before, Baking Mad is a brilliant free to join baking website full to brimming with amazing recipes. Each recipe is easy to follow and has a full ingredients list which can be changed from metric-imperial measurements at a click of a button. The Baking Mad recipes also contain a 'bake mode' option, where your screen changes to a simple one-step-at-a-time method, which means you aren't likely to misread the recipe or miss a step. 'Bake Mode' also lists which ingredients you need for each individual step - it is a genius way to follow an online recipe, give it a go! 

Entering 'Bake Mode' to make my trifle! 

Over Easter, I was feeding lots of hungry family members as I had my mum, stepdad and twin sister staying, as well as feeding Liam, Bert and myself, as usual. So, this Rhubarb and Ginger Trifle recipe seemed like the perfect way to treat them all to a delicious pudding and give a new recipe a whirl in the meantime. 

RHUBARB AND GINGER TRIFLE

You know just looking at this picture that they're going to make something delicious! 

This recipe calls for moist, sticky Jamaica Ginger Cake slices doused in the tipple of your choice (rum!) followed by a layer of vanilla and ginger spiked stewed rhubarb, homemade vanilla custard on top of that and finished off with a generous layer of vanilla and ginger whipped cream. It is not for the faint-hearted: this calorie-laden bowl of wonder is worth the weight gain, I promise!

I used 'Bake Mode' on the Baking Mad website and set about making my trifle - I loved the challenge of making the custard from scratch and it went (thankfully) really well.

Homemade vanilla custard, yum yum! 

I made my custard using Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste - if you've never baked with this stuff I urge you to do so. It is a staple ingredient for any homemaker's pantry and gives a gorgeously intense hit of real vanilla with every teaspoon full. I also used some mixed in with my rhubarb before I stewed it and whipped some into my cream to give an intense and heady hit of vanilla with every mouthful. 

Vanilla really is one of my favourite flavours and scents - I wear a vanilla-scented perfume very often, and love how it makes me smell of cakes! Ha! 

Once the individual parts to my trifle were prepared I was ready to assemble... 

The stickiest cake on the planet: heaven!

I lined my trifle bowl with thick slices of the Jamaica Ginger Cake and doused them liberally with rum! 

The trifle was quick and very easy to assemble - I used a larger trifle bowl than recommended for the ingredients suggested as I wanted to make it go further and ultimately reduce the calories per portion, but if you used a smaller dish you'd get deeper layers! 

Trifle heaven

The trifle chilled in the fridge to set for a couple of hours before we all dived in! 

Everybody who tried it really enjoyed this different take on a trifle - we all agreed it was quite a warming and autumnal pudding in its flavour (the heat from the ginger and spice from the cake) so it would be a perfect dessert for the colder months. 

That said, I'd happily tuck into it any day of the year! 

Sticky stem ginger nougats and flecks of vanilla bean atop my gloriously spiced trifle! 


We didn't mess around with portion sizes in The Bishop household, and wow, it was worth every single calorie!

She'll kill me for this: but my twin sister loved it so much - she even asked to lick the bowl! Haha! 

Why not have a go at this fab recipe yourself? 

Or head over to Baking Mad for some more recipe inspiration. 

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Disclaimer: I was sent a hamper of Nielsen-Massey goodies from Baking Mad.com for the purpose of this recipe post. All images, words and opinions are my own.