When I first started my career in catering as an apprentice in Worcester this was one of the desserts I often had to make, and in truth, the long since vanished sweet trolley of the grand hotel restaurants always had a trifle on. So get some nostalgia and make a trifle better than your mum made...not a bit of jelly in sight and plenty of sherry to get up the noses of the puritans!
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First job is to find a suitable bowl, the more elegant the better. Using a pastry brush, brush raspberry jam liberally over the bottom and a about 2cm up the sides of the bowl. Put the milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Mix the custard powder with a little cold milk in a bowl into a thin paste.
Add the custard powder to the boiled milk. Bring back to a simmer stirring all the time with a wooden or resin spoon. Mix in the sugar and allow to mix through before removing from the heat.
Take the sponge and cut into cubes.
Place the sponge in a bowl with the drained fruit cocktail.
Sprinkle the sponge and fruit with sherry. Combine all the fruit and sponge together.
Fill the sponge and fruit into the trifle bowl.
Cover with the custard and set aside to chill for a couple of hours. You could prepare the day before chill overnight and finish the next day.
Whip up the cream, add a little caster sugar and a drop of vanilla essence. Pipe the top of the trifle with swirls of cream.
Decorate the trifle with glacee cherries, angelica, chocolate shavings, toasted almonds anything you like really! Angelica should be cut into diamonds but you could use jellied fruits.
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