[ADVICE] Abbot's Special Abbey Trifle? (amateur cook needs serious help)

[Blazemane]

Hello, one and all,

In trying to find a solution to this problem, I stumbled on the Redwall Cookbook thread in this forum and saw that a number of posters had tried out this desert. But since the last post came during the summer of last year, I didn't want to bump back an old thread, so here's this one.

A while back, I bought the Redwall cookbook; I haven't devoted too much time to exploring its recipes, but I have loved the mere idea of it, and I liked the stories and illustrations.

(And the scones were fantastic!)

Well, for one of my classes, the assignment over this weekend was to inventively redesign some aspect of a familiar recipe, or to simply attempt a recipe that was new to us. Given my limited cooking experience, the realm of "new-to-me" includes basically everything, but my mind was immediately drawn back to the cookbook, and after deliberating for hours over which recipe to try, I finally settled on the Abbot's Special Abbey Trifle.

Well, the first thing you're supposed to do is make a custard sauce. This meant that I would be doing two new recipes. And as you might imagine, I completely botched my first attempt. More specifically, the eggs in my "custard" scrambled themselves. ...I take some small comfort in the fact that "he could burn a salad" is still one or two steps below "he could turn a cream sauce into a breakfast."

But anyways, with my older, wiser sister giving my guidance on the next shot, I finally managed to make something that seemed to work, and it went away into the refrigerator to await the other parts of the trifle.

Well, cooking raspberries with sugar went alright (and creates an amazing syrup, I've now found). But then I ran into my next problem. The recipe asks
for the raspberries to be "tossed" with the cake, and then for the mixture to be "smoothed down." I suddenly wasn't sure if I was supposed to be visualizing a light mix of ladyfingers and fruit, or a smooth, consistent puree of the two of them, and in the end (I think I probably went wrong here), I opted for something a bit closer to the latter.

Which means there really isn't space for my custard sauce to seep in between pieces of cake; now that I've poured the custard over the bottom layer and left the trifle in the fridge for a few hours, I see that the sauce has mostly sat itself on top of the bottom layer and gone no further.

More alarmingly, though, my custard sauce hasn't "set." The recipe next calls for a new layer of raspberries to be put on top of the custard. I get the impression that if I did that, I'd just have a bunch of raspberries floating in a yellow lake. My custard doesn't at all have the texture of pudding; it's more like eggnog.

So... is there still anyone out there who's made the Abbot's Special Abbey Trifle before? Have I done something incredibly wrong? Was I supposed to cook my custard longer? Space out my cake spaciously so that the custard would actually go between pieces of it? Actually "toss" the raspberries and cake rather than mix them so thoroughly?

And can my trifle be saved, or should I start back from square one?

Thanks for reading!

[Tam and Martin]

I don't really know.

[Osu]

For the record, we actually prefer for old threads to be revived rather than having multiple threads covering the same topic.

I can't call to mind any serious cooks that are active here on this forum. It sounds like you need some specialized help... perhaps a forum dedicated to recipes would get you a few more bites? I don't have access to the recipe in question, so I'm afraid I'm no help in this department, either. Good luck!

[Blazemane]

For the record, we actually prefer for old threads to be revived rather than having multiple threads covering the same topic.

Oh? Oh. O.k. 

I can't call to mind any serious cooks that are active here on this forum. It sounds like you need some specialized help... perhaps a forum dedicated to recipes would get you a few more bites? I don't have access to the recipe in question, so I'm afraid I'm no help in this department, either. Good luck!

Thank you! I'm actually alright now; yesterday I ended up adding an egg, simmering and stirring for about twenty minutes, adding another yolk in, stirring for about another 20 minutes, and then finally getting something that seemed like the right consistency. But then as I let it cool, I thought it might actually be a bit too hard, so I added more milk to it. I think milk only works when its cooked in with the rest rather than added in after it cools--whatever the reason, I changed the custard back to something just a little too soupy.

Oh well. The actual doing of the assignment went well even if the desert itself was lackluster. Now I can let the thing go (and, I... think... know how to do it right the next time).

[Osu]

Ahaha, I'm sorry to hear it was lackluster, but I'm glad to hear your assignment went well! Silver lining, at least now future cooks who attempt this recipe will know what to expect. I just ordered the cookbook, and now this recipe is at the top of my list of things to try first.

If you ever make this recipe again -- and if anybody else has tried it -- I'm certainly interested to know how it turns out for you!

[Blazemane]

I just ordered the cookbook, and now this recipe is at the top of my list of things to try first.

Awesome! I think you're really going to like the cookbook. And if you do end up making the trifle, I'd be interested to know how that goes for you.

[Captain Tammo]

Post some pictures when its done!

[Blazemane]

Post some pictures when its done!

Heheh. Pardon my confusion, but... me or Osu? Or both of us?

[Leatho Shellhound]

Either or both.

[Blazemane]

The raspberries in the third box I had bought were almost all moldy, so I had to replace some of the recipe with strawberries.

You can see from this side angle how messy the cake/raspberry layer got, and you might even get a feel for the overall liquid-y quality of the custard. It doesn't look so appetizing.



But it does look better from the top, I think:

[Leatho Shellhound]

Looks yummy 

[Romsca]

That looks so good! 

*eats all of it*

[Blazemane]

Thank you very much--both of you!

[winifred]

Hey Blazemane!!!!
Really wish I could have helped you in time but unfortunatly I've been off the forum due to school etc.

Your trifle looks delicious!!!!!!!!!!! Did it taste good? (Because that's all that matters, right? The taste )

Here are some tips for trifle. I think I've made this trifle before? I've definitly made the custard and helped my mom do other custards at least a dozen times.

As you have your milk and vanilla stuff in the pan over medium heat, it says to pour the egg in slowly.
Here's what we do, We pour VERY VERY SLOWLY and we do it little by little. You CAN'T stop whisking or else (You get the scrambled eggs again )
Me and my mom take turns whisking so we don't get tired. As you whisk the pudding shoud start to thicken. A thick pudding consistency is what you're looking for! I don't know why your custard didn't set. Maybe it had too much egg or you didn't whisk enough.
I'm not a cooking expert, but those were the tips that worked for me:)
Hope it helps in the future
ps: If you want some pics of trifles other people have made here are some examples: (I don't think the custard snk in for them much either)

[Romsca]

  I might have to try this recipe sometime!