Lemon Berry Trifle

This recipe was originally sent to me by an old friend from graduate school, and she said the original came from Tyler Florence on the Food Network, so that might be the original source. However, I used this version, and made quite a few changes. Please note that is very time consuming. It’s not hard, but it takes a ton of time (a great friend pointed out that my version of an “easy” recipe is skewed, so I am making a note of that). Anyway, this gets a 9, but only if you let it sit for about 5 hours. We ate it fresh, and it wasn’t the same. My friend described it perfectly when she said it was light and refreshing; it’s the perfect dessert for Spring. Also, we added fresh berries to the top, which I liked. Finally, everything came from melskitchencafe.com, but I swapped out the lemon curd recipe with one from my Fine Cooking magazine, and she says that the cake recipe originally came from Martha Stewart. As always, my changes are in bold.

 

Lemon Berry Trifle

Yield: Serves 8-10

Note: the trifle should be assembled about 5-8 hours before serving so all the flavors can blend together. All of the components can be made from 1-3 days ahead. Look through the recipe for more specific details.

Ingredients

Berries: (can be cooked up to a day in advance and refrigerated):

• 4 cups berries (a combination of blueberries, strawberries and raspberries), you can use fresh or frozen – if using frozen, they need to be thawed and drained I used 5 cups—2 cups raspberries, 2 cups blueberries, and 1 cup strawberries. Next time, I will use blackberries and about half the strawberries and less raspberries. It was a bit heavy on the raspberry flavor
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 cup sugar I used a very scant 2 Tbs., and it was plenty of sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

  Lemon Cream: (the lemon curd can be made up to 3 days in advance):

• 3 cups whipping cream
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar I used 1/4 cup and it was plenty
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 recipe lemon curd (see below) or an 11-ounce jar lemon curd I included the recipe below that I used, which I found originally from Fine Cooking magazine

  Pound Cake: (can be made a day in advance or longer, if it is frozen): I included the recipe below that I used, which I found originally on the same page from melskitchencafe.com that this recipe came from

• 1 9-inch round or loaf lemon (or plain) pound cake, homemade (Danielle used this recipe, I wanted to try a new version and typed it up below – both are fantastic) or store-bought, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices

Directions

1. Combine the berries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook just until the berries begin to break down, about 3-4 minutes. Take the berries off the heat and let the mixture cool. This can be done a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate the berry syrup until ready to use.
2. In a clean bowl, whip the cream with the powdered sugar and the vanilla until soft peaks form. Put the lemon curd into a second bowl and whisk in about 1/4 cup of the whipped cream to loosen it up a bit. Then gently fold in the rest of the cream. Cover and refrigerate if not using immediately.
3. To assemble the trifle, spoon a layer of the cream into a large glass or trifle bowl. Add a layer of pound cake. You may need to break the pound cake slices into smaller pieces and jigsaw them together to fit. Then drizzle on about 1/3 of the berry syrup. Don’t worry if it doesn’t completely coat the pound cake – just drizzle it across and let the berries fall where they may. Spoon a layer of lemon cream over the top, smoothing to the sides. Repeat all the layers, 2 or 3 more times, depending on the size of the bowl, finishing with a layer of lemon cream. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. It is best to make this several hours before serving and refrigerate it.

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/lemon-berry-trifle/

 

Cake Recipe

I used 2 9-inch cake pans, and it made more cake than fit in the bowl. I had about 3/4 of one of the layer cakes leftover

Lemon Pound Cake:
adapted from Martha Stewart Living 2002 Annual Recipes

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature I cut out 3 Tbs of butter and added in 2 Tbs. of  canola oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar I cut this down to 1 1/2 cups
5 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk I used a generous 3/4 cup
2 tablespoons lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 1-2 lemons) I increased this to 1/4 cup

Preheat the oven to 324 degrees. Butter and dust with flour a 9-inch round cake pan (or I suppose a loaf pan would work, also). Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Place the butter in a large bowl and using an handheld or stand mixer, beat until soft. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Reduce the speed to low. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat until incorporated after each addition. Stir in the lemon zest and lemon juice.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan; bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes (perhaps longer for a deep loaf pan). Invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

 

Lemon Curd—this came from an old Fine Cooking magazine issue

Classic Lemon Curd

by Elinor Klivans from Fine Cooking
Issue 26

• 3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar I cut this down to 3/4 cup
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grated lemon zest I used an entire lemon’s worth, which is more like 1 Tbs.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 min. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 min. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.

In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don't let the mixture boil.

Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.

 

Source:

Lemon curd recipe retrieved 3/9/15 from http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/lemon_curd.aspx

Source:

Lemmon Berry Trifle recipe and referenced Martha Stewart cake recipe retrieved 3/9/15 from http://www.melskitchencafe.com/lemon-berry-trifle/