RecipeTin Eats’ showstopping Christmas trifle will encourage you to dig deep

1. Cover the bottom of a 3.5-litre trifle dish with the cake pieces then drizzle over the orange liqueur (or juice).

To make the cranberry jelly

1. Put half the cranberry juice (3 cups) into a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then turn off the stove. Pour the remaining room-temperature juice into a very large bowl. Sprinkle gelatin all over the surface (don’t dump it all in one place or you’ll get lumps) and whisk until it is mostly dissolved. Add the hot cranberry juice and continue whisking until the gelatin is fully dissolved.

To make the first jelly layer

1. Pour half the warm jelly liquid carefully down the side of the trifle dish so the cake pieces remain submerged. Pour the remaining warm jelly into a bowl and leave it on the bench. DO NOT refrigerate. Refrigerate the trifle dish, uncovered, for 1.5 hours until it is partly set. (It needs to be firm enough so you can gently place a strawberry on top and it will stay on the surface).

To make the custard

1. While the jelly is cooling, make the custard. Heat the milk, ¼ cup sugar and vanilla to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not boil. In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup sugar and the yolks, then whisk in the cornflour until smooth. While whisking, carefully pour in about ½ cup of the milk mixture. Once mixed in, slowly pour in the remaining milk while whisking continuously. Once incorporated, pour it back into the saucepan and return to the stove over low heat. Whisk constantly until it becomes thick – this will happen quickly (about 45 seconds). Once it is thick enough to thickly coat the back of a spoon, immediately remove it from the stove, pour it into a bowl, cover with a sheet of cling film and press onto the surface. Leave on the bench to cool to room temperature until the trifle is ready to layer with custard.

To add the custard layer

1. Remove the trifle dish from the fridge. Whisk the room-temperature custard to loosen, then spoon onto the jelly. Smooth the custard surface and press against the sides of the dish to seal (this stops the next layer of jelly bleeding into the custard, so you get neat layers). Refrigerate, uncovered, for 1 hour until the surface firms up a bit. Give the remaining jelly a whisk then put it in the fridge at the same time to thicken a bit without fully setting. Refrigerate for 1 hour, but check at 30 minutes to ensure it isn’t setting too fast. If it fully sets, you’ll end up with a “broken glass” effect rather than a clear layer.

To add the second jelly layer

1. Remove both the trifle dish and the jelly from the fridge. The jelly should be sloppy but still spoonable. Carefully spoon the jelly over the custard and smooth the surface. Scatter over 1 punnet of halved strawberries (or half each raspberries and strawberries), pressing some in as needed to suspend throughout the jelly. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours (you can leave it in the fridge for up to 48 hours, until ready to assemble).

To Assemble the trifle

1. Beat the cream, sugar and vanilla together until softly whipped. Just before serving, top the trifle with cream, then pile on the remaining berries and dust with a little icing sugar.

To serve

1. To serve, dig ALL the way down when scooping. It is imperative that every serving includes a bit of every layer.