I rarely make my own cake for a trifle. When in the UK I would use a shop bought Swiss roll filled with jam. The red swirls always look nice on the sides of the bowl. In France I would use a shop bought "quatre quarts" which is very similar to a Madeira cake, sliced and spread thinly with jam.
My trifles are unashamedly old fashioned, containing raspberries or mixed berries, red jelly and Birds custard, topped with whipped cream and decorated with sprinkles, all of which are luckily gluten free. You can see the recipe here. Sometimes I pour a splash of sherry over the sponge before adding the fruit, but usually not if children will be eating it…..and children do seem to love a trifle!
"One I made earlier."
The usual sprinkles.
For my gluten free trifle this time I used a recipe for Madeira cake from the website "Coeliac by Design". It could not have been easier to make and was also perfectly delicious just as cake. I sampled a slice just to be sure before putting it in the trifle and gave the unused portion to the party host to put in her freezer for a future dessert. Her husband is the "gluten free" person and with it being the party season I thought it might come in handy!
Interestingly….a Madeira cake does not contain any Madeira wine! Historically it was served as a plain cake with a glass of the wine (which is similar to a sweet sherry) to sip with it.
Ingredients
200g Doves Farm GF self raising flour
175g softened butter or baking spread
175g caster sugar
50g ground almonds
3 large eggs, beaten
zest of 1 lemon
Method
Put a paper liner into 900g loaf tin, or grease and line with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.
Put all of the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat well with an electric whisk until light and creamy.
Spoon the mixture into the tin and tap on the worktop a few times to settle the mixture and release any air bubbles. Level the top.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until done. Cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to cool completely.
Cuts into 8-10 slices.
The author adds the note that this also makes an excellent cherry cake by adding 180g washed and halved cherries. I would probably make sure they are dried and mixed with a little of the flour before adding to the mixture in an attempt to prevent them from sinking and might also add half a teaspoon of almond extract to turn it into a cherry and almond cake.
