Gingerbread Trifle

Homemade gingerbread cake makes up the bulk of this Gingerbread Trifle. Layered with fluffy whipped cream, crushed gingersnap cookies, and candied sugary ginger, this dessert is the perfect warm and cozy finish to a family holiday meal!

Gingerbread is most commonly eaten at Christmastime. Why is that? Why do we only eat the most delicious things once a year? It’s like those of us who save our best china for when company comes to visit. Why does the company deserve better than our own family? I say that life is too short to not use the fine china every day if you have it. And, just like the fancy dishes, apply the same logic to eating really tasty food anytime you want – just like in the case of this Gingerbread Trifle!

I think we start eating gingerbread-flavoured baked goods in September. And, it really does continue until well into January.  (That’s because I’ve baked so much, that our freezer is probably still running over with it until mid-January!) Gingerbread has a long and colourful history!

I’m going to tell you all about this recipe and how you can make it in your home this holiday season. But first, I want to tell you about what you can expect from Lord Byron’s Kitchen this Christmas. Over the past seven Christmases, I have built a reputation for sharing series-type recipes. The most popular would be my annual 24 Cookies of Christmas, which was fashioned after an advent calendar. But, I have others that are only 12 days, which were fashioned after the 12 Days of Christmas.

Before we get to a list of ingredients and instructions for today’s recipe, let me tell you about this series and more! Welcome, Dear Reader, to my first Christmas series this holiday season! I’m calling this series Lord Byron’s 12 Holiday Trifles.

Just like every other series that I’ve shared over the years, this one will also see a new recipe shared each day for the next 12 days – even on Saturday and Sunday! You might be asking yourself, how many Christmas recipes could one possibly have or need? Well, I say you can never have too much of a good thing. And, I love having lots of choices. Who wants to prepare the same holiday recipes year after year?

THE ORIGINS OF GINGERBREAD

The history of gingerbread is quite the story, and quite lengthy too.  I love to learn about where food comes from and why we make food items the way we do. Gingerbread is no exception.  The origins of gingerbread can be traced back to the year 992. It was created by an Armenian monk.  He was responsible for teaching the French how to bake gingerbread.

In the 13^th century, the Germans brought gingerbread to Sweden. Swedish nuns adopted gingerbread; they believed it to be medicinal and would help with issues like indigestion.  They were responsible for the decoration of gingerbread and would paint them to look like church windows.

Fast forward to the 17^th century. Gingerbread was being sold in pharmacies and town squares, again for medicinal purposes.  Eventually, gingerbread found its way to North America and was first recorded in a cookbook dated 1796.

SUBSCRIBE NOW SO THAT YOU NEVER MISS OUT ON NEW RECIPES!

So, welcome, Dear Reader, to Lord Byron’s 12 Holiday Trifles Series! Even though this is the first series for this holiday season, you can always look back at previous years if you just cannot wait until the next recipe is published. Also, some of my favourite recipe collections from previous years are my 75 Homemade Gifts from Your Kitchen, my 50 Make Ahead Freezer Friendly Christmas Recipes, and my 30 No-Bake Christmas Recipes post.

You really don’t want to miss one of these recipes, so if you have not yet subscribed to Lord Byron’s Kitchen, I encourage you to do so. That way, a new recipe will be emailed to you every day. You won’t have to bother to come looking for it! Like in previous holiday recipe countdowns, I like to mix up the recipes in the series so that there is something for everyone. Are you ready!!??

LAYERED DESSERTS ARE THE EASIEST AND THE BEST!

Layered desserts have been popular for many, many years. For those of us who were not blessed with the ability to decorate elaborate cakes or whip up a choux pastry or even master the art of a good meringue, there are layered desserts. Think about it! The popularity of desserts like no-bake cheesecakes, trifles, tiramisus, etc., is proof.

I like to think that a layered dessert can certainly be just as elegant if prepared the right way. Make it simple. Overcomplicated desserts are no fun to prepare or eat. Choose two or three flavour combinations, because too many will just become muddled and the flavours will compete with each other. That’s what I think of trifles. I do love them, but I don’t care for them if they too many ingredients and too many layers. I’ll do my best to keep the trifles in this series uncomplicated.

If you are looking for more layered desserts, look no further! I’ve got you covered right here. Try these Stacked Vanilla Strawberry Shortcakes, for example. Or a breakfast version using waffles! Speaking of strawberry shortcakes, you have got to try these puff pastry flakies – they are probably my favourite dessert of all time.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this Gingerbread Trifle recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

For the Gingerbread Cake:

• Flour – No need for anything special. Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Ground Ginger, Ground Cinnamon and Ground Cloves
• Salt
• Baking Soda  
• Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature.
• Brown Sugar
• Eggs – These, like the butter, should be at room temperature too.
• Molasses – When baking, the best molasses is fancy molasses.  Stay away from dark or blackstrap molasses unless instructed otherwise.  Fancy molasses is light molasses. 
• Boiling Water

For the Whipped Cream:

• Whipping Cream – Please see the next section on whipping cream.
• Sugar
• Vanilla Extract

For the Assembly:

• Candied Ginger – Sometimes referred to as crystallized ginger. I get my ginger from Paradise Fruit Company. You can get it delivered to your home here!
• Gingersnap Cookies

HOW TO MAKE A GINGERBREAD TRIFLE

To prepare the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 10-cup bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of flour into the pan and move the pan around to coat. Invert the pan and tap out the excess flour. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and incorporate into the butter mixture. Measure in the molasses and incorporate. Set aside. Add the baking soda to the boiling water and stir to dissolve. Sift together the remaining dry ingredients and stir 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the molasses mixture until just combined. Stir 1/2 cup of the boiling water into the mixture until the water has been incorporated into the batter. Repeat the previous two steps until the last of the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Tap the pan firmly on your countertop to make sure the batter gets into the nooks and crannies of the pan. Bake the bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 30 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. Once fully cooled, cut the cake into one-inch cubes and set aside.

To make the whipped cream, transfer the whipping cream to a chilled mixing bowl. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks are formed. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time. Beat to incorporate. Beat in the vanilla extract.

To assemble, place a layer of the cake cubes into a trifle bowl. Top with 1/2 of the crushed gingersnap cookies and one tablespoon of the candied ginger. Next, layer in half of the whipped cream. Repeat the layering once more, reserving two cubes of cake and a tablespoon of the crushed gingersnap cookies. Garnish with remaining cake and cookies. Refrigerate the trifle for 2 hours before serving. The trifle can be prepared up to 12 hours in advance.

MOLASSES 101

There are basically three types of molasses – light, dark, and blackstrap. If you boil cane sugar once, you will get light molasses. If you boil it twice, you’ll get dark molasses. So, boiling it three times must mean that you’ll get blackstrap molasses. Remember, the darker the molasses (blackstrap) the less sweet and more bitter it is.

Never use blackstrap molasses in a recipe unless instructed to do so by the author of the recipe. You can use light or dark without changing the taste drastically. There are also sulphured and unsulphured molasses. The difference between the two is that the sulphured molasses has been chemically treated with preservatives. Nearly 100% of the time, I use unsulphured light molasses.

HEAVY CREAM VS WHIPPING CREAM

Confession time – I use them both interchangeably, depending on what is available at the store, or whatever is on sale! Both of these can be quite costly. If memory serves me correctly, a 250mL carton, or one cup, here in Canada, will run just short of $5! There is a difference in the two, but not enough to concern yourself with when it comes to this Gingerbread Trifle.

Just in case you’re interested, the most basic difference is the amount of fat contained in both. Whipping cream has 35% fat. It can be whipped into peaks and it’s also rich enough that it won’t curdle when heated in soups and sauces. It’s nearly identical to heavy cream so if a recipe calls for heavy cream and you can only find whipping cream, feel free to use that instead. In contrast, heavy cream, which is sometimes called heavy whipping cream, contains about 38% fat. Either of those would work well in this recipe. I used 35% whipping cream.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN PREPARING TRIFLES

First of all, there are no steadfast rules about how many layers you should or shouldn’t have. My rule of thumb is this – make the trifle big enough to feed your family and/or guests, and use a bowl that is big enough to accommodate the layers. If you have a larger trifle bowl, you can simply add another layer or add more berries or cake to fill it up. Likewise, if your bowl is too small, you can make mini trifles with the leftover ingredients in stemmed dessert bowls.

Trifles cannot be prepared days in advance, nor can they be frozen. Since most trifle recipes are assembly-type recipes, the best thing to do is to prepare them on the day you plan to eat them. However, with that said, every trifle in this series can be prepared a day in advance. If you prepare the trifle a day in advance, it’s a good idea to set the garnish aside and place it onto the trifle just before serving. That way, your trifle will look like it was just freshly prepared.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down to follow me and never miss another recipe!