[Sca-cooks] Re: Trifle (?OOP) was victoria

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

Elysant said:

I've also used Lady Fingers and "Swiss Roll" (when in
>Britain) in it.  I wonder what would be the most authentic kind of cake to
>use?


Dunno but Hannah Glasse uses a mixture of "Naples biscuits broke in pieces,
mackeroons broke in halves, and ratafia cakes". ("just wet them all through
with sack, then make a good boiled custard, not too thick and when cold pour
it over it, then put a syllabub over that. You may garnish it with ratafia
cakes, currant jelly, and flowers, and strew different coloured nonpareils
over it").

IIRC, the earliest trifles did not have any cake at all, although I could be
mistaken. However, it so happens that I'm going to London next week for a
party held to celebrate Jane and Alan Davidson's Golden wedding Anniversary,
and Alan is sort of a world authority on trifles (he has a book devoted to
them coming out this year; what I've seen of it looks very interesting but
since that particular chapter included my contribution on trifles in
Iceland, I may be biased). Anyway, I'll try to remember to ask Alan about
the cakes used in the earlier trifles.

Nanna