Strawberry, Rhubarb & Pink Moscato Trifles

It was a quiet week on my blog last week, I didn't want it to be but I have a very good reason for disappearing! I've been experimenting with a very fun, silly baking idea but after about 4 days of uber fails in the kitchen I finally had to let the idea (and all the wasted ingredients) go down the drain :( And then, I spent my entire weekend eating myself into a stupor at Billy's awesome Christmas in July feast with a big group of food bloggers. (Read about it here, here & here) My wasted time due to fail baking meant that I had hardly any time to put together a dessert to bring along with me, but I managed to whip up these super easy individual trifles. Because you can't have a Christmas feast without a trifle, right?

These trifles are nothing mind-blowing, but I think they are quite cute and really easy to make. And they are super light and go down very easily, even after a really heavy meal. Which was kind of perfect because I was ridiculously full after all the awesome food we ate in our Yuletide dinner. I'm always a fan of splitting big desserts up into neat individual portions, it's much easier to serve up and really good for a trifle, since a single big bowl starts to look like a total mess once you start digging into it. Not that I have anything against a big single trifle, I totally love it, it's part of the fun! But if you prefer to keep things pretty and tidy, here is a great alternative.

Rhubarb and strawberry are such a famous combination and they go so well with the sweet, light pink moscato to make a deliciously moreish jelly. I could just eat the jelly on its own with some vanilla ice cream to be honest. (I was always a sucker for jelly ice cream cups when I was little) I was totally lazy and didn't make my own sponge cake. I am not ashamed to admit I used store-bought cake this time. But for a trifle where you are soaking it in loads of other stuff I don't think it matters too much. To be honest I couldn't taste much of the booze I put into the trifles, but I thought I put heaps in! So feel free to go nuts with the booze :D Happy Christmas in July everyone! Thanks heaps and heaps to Billy and Pete for being awesome hosts.

Strawberry, Rhubarb & Pink Moscato Trifles
(serves 8-10, you need to start this recipe a day ahead, custard recipe from Gourmet Traveller)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp powdered gelatine
300ml Pink Moscato (or any other sweet sparkling) + another 150 ml for soaking
2 cups diced rhubarb (about one bunch)
2 punnets strawberries
1/4 cup brandy
2 sponge cakes, store bought or homemade and sliced horizontally to about 1 cm thick

4 egg yolks
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
2 cups pouring cream
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
300ml pouring cream + extra sliced strawberries to serve

In a small bowl, add 100ml of moscato to the gelatine to soften it. Dice 1 punnet of the strawberries (about 1 1/4 cups of fruit. Thinly slice the remaining punnet of strawberry, place in a flat dish and pour 150ml of moscato over it. Refrigerate the sliced strawberries. Place caster sugar and diced rhubarb in a medium saucepan and gently bring to the boil. Simmer until sugar is dissolved and rhubarb is tender, but not falling apart. Add gelatine to the mixture and stir over medium heat until it dissolves completely. Removed from the heat and stir in diced strawberries and the remaining moscato. Pour into separate serving glasses (about 375-450 ml, I used plastic wine cups). Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.

For the custard, whisk egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a bowl. Place cream and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring just to the boil. Gradually whisk hot cream mixture into egg yolk mixture until combined. Return to pan and stir continuously over low heat until mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon (watch it carefully or you'll get scrambled eggs). Strain out the vanilla bean pod and pour into a bowl, cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Using a round cutter, cut 8 rounds of sponge cake and place on top of the strawberry & rhubarb jelly. Spoon over brandy, about 2 tsp each. Arrange a single layer of sliced strawberries over the top and spoon any remaining liquid from the dish over the top. Spoon vanilla custard over the strawberries and refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, whip cream and spoon over the top, top off with extra fresh strawberries.