Black forest yule log trifle
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 45 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Kris Kirkham
Black forest yule log trifle
Brandy-soaked Madeira cake, gooey chocolate custard and boozy cherry compote in a dark chocolate shell? Sounds like pudding perfection
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 45 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (serving)
Calories
656Kcal
Fat
40gr
Saturates
24gr
Carbs
61gr
Sugars
50gr
Fibre
3gr
Protein
6gr
Salt
0.3gr
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Ingredients
- neutral oil, for greasing
- 350g dark chocolate
- 350g frozen cherries
- 120ml cherry brandy
- 40g dark soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 175g Madeira cake
- 300ml double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 200g chocolate custard (we used Jude’s Belgian Chocolate Custard)
You will also need
- 1 x 2-litre empty plastic bottle (one with straight sides)
Step by step
Get ahead
Make the chocolate shell the day before and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to serve. You can construct the trifle a few hours before serving. Keep chilled until you are ready to serve.
- Start by making the chocolate shell for the trifle. Using scissors, remove a central rectangle from the plastic bottle, around 23cm in length, keeping the top and bottom of the bottle attached. The central semi-circle of plastic left will be the mould for your chocolate shell. Brush the inside well with oil.
- Break up the chocolate and place one-third in a small microwave- safe bowl. Blast for 60-90 seconds in the microwave, until melted. Pour the chocolate into the oiled mould and move the bottle around so the chocolate covers the whole of the inner central section. You can use a silicone pastry brush to encourage it to cover the whole surface. Chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes until solid. Repeat twice more with a third more chocolate each time to build up the thickness of the chocolate. If the sides start to appear a bit thinner than the base, brush them with chocolate and wedge the bottle in a position in the fridge that ensures the chocolate hardens on each side. Chill while you make the filling.
- For the cherry compote, put the cherries in a saucepan with 75ml of the cherry brandy and the brown sugar. Heat gently until the sugar has melted, then simmer for 4-5 minutes. Slake the cornflour with a little cold water, then add this to the cherries. Simmer until the cherries are very syrupy. Set aside to cool completely.
- Cut the Madeira cake into chunky cubes and put in a shallow dish. Mix the remaining brandy with 1 tablespoon or so of the cherry syrup, then drizzle this over the cake and leave until the cake has soaked up all the syrup. Whisk the double cream and vanilla to soft peaks.
- Remove the chocolate mould from the fridge and carefully unmould it from its plastic shell. Place on a serving plate. Fill with the chunks of soaked Madeira cake and spoon over some of the cherry compote. Top with a layer of chocolate custard, then spoon over the whipped vanilla cream. Finally top with the remaining cherry compote.
