Recipe - Strawberry Trifle

INGREDIENTS:
10 ounce Angel loaf cake
1/3 cup Strawberry jam or jelly
1/3 cup Cream sherry OR orange juice
3 cup Strawberries
Custard sauce (cf. below)
Three fourths cup Whipping cream
2 tablespoon Powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
2 tablespoon Sliced almonds, toasted
(optional)
3 Egg yolks

CUSTARD SAUCE:

Mix 1One half tbsp. corstarch with One half cup milk. Heat 1Three fourths cups of milk with
One fourth cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan or double boiler, just to the point of
boiling. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cornstarch mixture until it's
smooth. The cornstarch mixes better and without lumps if the milk is
bonechilling COLD.

Cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It will thicken *fast*, so
pay attention. Simmer for three minutes and remove from the heat. Beat in
1 tsp. vanilla extract and 3 beaten egg yolks. Cover and chill.

THE TRIFLE:

Split the angel loaf cake into 3 layers. Spread the jam between the layers
and reassemble the layers. Cut the cake into 2inch cubes. Arrange the
cubes in a 2quart serving bowl and sprinkle with the sherry or orange
juice. Wash the strawberries and pick out 8 to 12 berries for later
garnishing. Remove the hulls from the rest of the berries and slice. Spoon
the berries over the cake.

Pour the chilled Custard Sauce over the berries. Cover the mixture and
refrigerate for an hour or more. Meanwhile, whip the cream to soft peaks.
Add the sugar and vanilla and whip until it forms *stiff* peaks. Spread the
cream over the custard.

Garnish the top with whole strawberries (the green hulls against the red
and white background is particularly pleasing to the eye). Sprinkle the
entire thing with the almonds, if you have them. Chill and serve within a
few hours.

Don't try to save this too long. It will get soggy before long and the
strawberries will get mushy. So eat it all at once.

(TIP): Make the Custard Sauce first. Cover and refrigerate it until it's
ready for use.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini