Scottish Christmas Trifle

We have always enjoyed Scotch broth, Christmas Turkey and all the trimmings for Christmas dinner and just when you thought it couldn’t get any better Granny pulls out her traditional Scottish trifle from the fridge! Delicious!

We love a good old fashioned traditional Scottish Trifle just the way my Mum would make it and its so easy to make too! Starting with the sponge and jam layer we then add in some tinned fruit, jelly and custard and top the whole thing off with whipped cream, sprinkles and cherries.

A traditional Scots trifle was a rather boozey affair indeed and was traditionally known as a Typsy Laird. The older recipes that I have found didn’t contain any jelly and fruit which must have been a later addition. I haven’t added booze to this trifle but you can add booze in if you wish and the instructions are in the video above on how to do so and in the recipe below.

Equipment you may need:

a large glass bowl for creating your trifle in, I love to use a retro crystal style bowl because they remind me so much of the way my Mum would make trifle and of how my husbands Granny made trifle. Another glass bowl will do, I prefer glass because you can see all the layers and it looks very pretty!
a cake tin if you are making your own cake for the bottom

If you like the look of this delicious Traditional Scottish Christmas trifle then you may also enjoy these other Christmas recipes. This trifle would work well as part of a three course Christmas dinner which would work great with a good Scottish soup like the Traditional Scottish Cock a Leekie Soup below. Another delicious Christmas dessert recipe that would work for Christmas time would be the Traditional Scottish Clootie dumpling.

Tips for making this recipe:

use a glass bowl. You can use plastic but you really want to see all the pretty layers and it makes it lovely to look at when you use a glass bowl. If you can find one a crystal retro glass bowl looks really nice and works perfectly with all the colours of the layers.
leave the jelly to set for a least 2 hours or follow the instructions on the packet. You really need the jelly to be set firmly before adding in the custard.
Traditionally us Scots love a boozey trifle so there would have been planty of alcohol in a trifle soaking into the sponge layers. If you want to make this trifle boozey you can replace the fruit juice from the can with sherry or brandy or other favourite alcohol. How much you add is just to taste but I would recommend may be 4-6tbsp.
You can also make your custard for this recipe if you fancy the challenge. Just make sure the custard is cooled completely before adding on top of the jelly layer.
You can pipe the cream onto the top of the trifle if you want to make it look even prettier. It is a bit time consuming and trickier to do but is worth the effort. If you want to keep it simple then you can just put it on like I did in the video and use a fork to smooth things over.
Be careful not to over whisk your cream or you will create butter. When the cream is stiff but still slightly creamy it is ready.
Add the sprinkles to the cream just before serving other wise the colour may run from the sprinkles.

Christmas Trifle Recipe

stale sponge cake or swiss roll
raspberry or strawberry jam
1 tin of fruit cocktail in juice
1 small packet of raspberry jelly
600-750ml of premade custard
600ml of double cream
vanilla essence
sprinkles, glace cherries and other toppings of choice.

Recipe Instructions

Slice the stale sponge cake in half as seen in the video above. Spread generously with jam on both sides and place back together. Slice the sponge into fingers and then into smaller cubes.
Place all of the sponge cubes into the bottom of the bowl to cover the whole bottom and slightly up the sides of the bowl. Bear in mind there will be four layers to this trifle so leave enough space for the other layers.
Drain the juice from the fruit tin into a small jug and drizzle over the sponge cake. You can add in some alcohol at this point but remember to remove some of the fruit juice from the jar to balance the liquid quantity.
Empty the drained tin of fruit into the trifle.
Make up the jelly as per the packet instructions and pour over the sponge cakes and fruit.
Place the bowl in the fridge for at least 2hrs or per the instructions on the jelly packet until it is completely set.
Remove the bowl from the fridge and pour over enough cold custard to fill almost to the top of the bowl with a little space left for the cream.
Place the bowl back in the fridge for 30mins to chill further.
Whip up the double cream with a dash of vanilla using an electric whisk or stand mixer. You can whisk it by hand but it takes a long time.
Spoon or pipe the double cream onto the top of the trifle and sprinkle with sprinkles, glace cherries and other toppings of choice.
Serve immediately and add further sprinkles to each serving if you wish.