Makes 6 servings
A trifle traditionally includes cake doused with sherry, a custard, and fresh fruit. This trifle introduces an egg-based sauce that the French call sabayon and the Italians, zabaglione. Marsala, with its rich, raisin-like flavor, gives the custard the same heady aroma that a classic trifle introduces by brushing the cake with sherry.
Ingredients
Sabayon
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from about 1 orange)
- 1/3 cup Marsala wine
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- One 8-inch layer Vanilla Sponge Cake, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 cups berries, such as raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, or a combination, plus berries for garnish
Directions
- Prepare an ice bath.
- To make the sabayon, whisk together the egg yolks, orange juice, wine, and sugar in a stainless-steel mixing bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Continue to whisk over the hot-water bath as the eggs cook. They will thicken, triple in volume, and become a pale yellow, 15 minutes. The mixture should fall from the whisk in ribbons that hold their shape on top of the sabayon. Remove the bowl from the hot-water bath and set it directly in the ice bath.
- Continue to whisk until the sauce is cold.
- Whip the cream in the chilled bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until it holds a medium peak when the whisk is turned upright. Reserve 3/4 cup of the whipped cream to garnish the trifle, and refrigerate. Fold the remaining whipped cream into the sabayon and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours before assembling the dessert.
- To assemble individual trifles, place 2 cubes of cake in each of six 6-oz molds, glasses, or dishes. Top with some berries and then a dollop of the cold sabayon. Continue layering cake, berries, and sabayon until the molds are filled. To make a large trifle, layer the cake, berries, and sabayon in a footed trifle dish or a soufflé dish.
- Cover and chill the trifle for at least 3 hours before serving.
- To garnish the trifle, use a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip to pipe a rosette of the reserved whipped cream on top of the individual trifles or around the edge of a large trifle, and decorate with berries.
