Bird's Trifle Kit, Strawberry Flavoured Dessert Mix, 141 g (Pack of 1)

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The decision to serve this at Christmas was mostly due to it being able to be thrown together in a hurry, using very basic elements.

There’s deliberately no quantity here because it’s up to you – 1 tin is enough for these four dishes in my opinion but Mr Frugal would have me use two if he got his way as the custard is his favourite part. I can’t for the life of me recreate her soup but her making Nana’s traditional English trifle is a whole different ball game and I think I can say that I make a trifle *almost* as good as the ones she made over the years for us when we visited.The sponges may try to float at first but they should stay in place once they start to soak up the jelly mixture. Add these to a jelly that’s almost set (jelly made with ½ pint of hot water to give you an idea of volume).

Make the custard on the Saturday and allow it to set in the fridge overnight, then make the dream topping on the Sunday morning and allow it to set from fairly early until just before eating. Spoon in billowing clouds on top of the custard layer, cover and chill (if the trifle is hard to fit in the fridge with the cream on top, whip and top with the cream only just before serving). Occasionally, if she didn’t have any in then she would use a swiss roll sliced instead which is almost as good but not quite.

If you don't have sponge cake, you can use 6-ounce/160-gram packages of trifle sponges or sponge fingers instead. However, in keeping with tradition, I like to use a tin of Fruit Cocktail– just like Granny used to!

Finished with a cloud-like layer of of whipped fresh cream, complete with a generous handful of sprinkles or chocolate flakes. You can also follow me on Twitter or BlogLovin and I’d love to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram . Everything else is as she used to make her trifle and it really does make me think of her when I’m making it and even more so when we sit down as a family to eat it.It’s definitely not a traditional English trifle, or one of the many varyingly gaudy trifles you’ll see on social media.