Very Berry Romantic Anglo Italian Trifle for Valentine's Day

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Buon San Valentino Everyone!

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I am so glad that Valentine's Day is finally here in this cold winter that we're having! Such a sweet little holiday to break up the monotony of this time of year! This week the "I Heart Cooking Clubs" challenged us to prepare a romantic recipe from Nigella Lawson's collection. So I chose her Anglo-Italian Trifle that is seductively red with the juice of berries, sweetened with Italian Marscapone cheese, Amaretto cookies, and then spiked with some Italian Limoncello. Now that ought to get someone's attention!

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This trifle is decadent and rich. I'd recommend making a few adjustments if you are like us and like desserts more on the sweet side. First of all I would add alot more sugar to the 'custard'. I also recommend decreasing the amount of Limoncello because it makes the custard somewhat bitter (or else just add more sugar and taste as you go). You'll find that this is a very special dessert, stunning in presentation, and all around yummy! This lemony, almondy, cream-swathed berry delight lends well to a perfect ending for a romantic dinner with your sweetheart or your friends! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

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Anglo-Italian Trifle

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What you need for the Trifle:

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8 trifle sponges or a sponge cake, cut into slices
1 cup red currant jelly
8 - 10 Amaretto cookies (the hard version)
1 cup Limoncello (I recommend using 4 oz. only)
juice of half a lemon
12 oz. blackberries (I used 16 oz.)
2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup sugar (I would double this!)
1 1/2 cups Mascarpone cheese (I used 2 cups)

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What you need to do to make the Trifle:

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Split the trifle sponges and make little sandwiches of them by spreading 1/4th of the jelly in each, then place them into the base of your glass bowl.

Grind up the Amaretto cookies in a food processor.

Sprinkle most of these evenly over the sponges and reserve some crumbs for sprinkling over the top at the end.

Pour half of the Limoncello over these.
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Put the remaining jelly into a wide saucepan with the lemon juice and melt over a low heat. Add the blackberries and turn up the heat for a minute or so just until the juices start running. Pour berry mixture over the sponge sandwiches to cover and let sit while you complete the rest of the recipe.

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With a hand-held electric mixer, mix the egg yolks with the sugar until you have a thick smooth yellow paste.

Add in the remaining Limoncello and continue mixing until you have a light mousse mixture. Mix in the Mascarpone cheese until everything is smoothly combined.
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Finally, in another bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm.

Fold these into the lemony, egg-y Mascarpone mixture.

Spread this gently over the blackberries in the glass bowl.
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Cover the assembled trifle with plastic cling wrap and leave in the fridge for the flavors and textures to steep and meld for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

Take the trifle out of the fridge for about 40 minutes to an hour before it’s needed (depending on how cold your fridge runs) to get to a cool room temperature.

Sprinkle remaining amaretto cookie crumbs on top

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Optional: Not long before you want to eat, toast some flaked almonds by tossing them in a dry, oil-less pan over medium heat until they are turning gold and flashed bronze in parts, then lay then on to a plate.

When they’re cool, mix them with the reserved amaretto crumbs.

Sprinkle the nuts and crumbs over the trifle top.

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