Spring Mango Trifle

Ingredients:

1/4 tsp vanilla

5 ripe mangoes, peeled, sliced into 1/2 in by 1 1/2 in slices

4 cups heavy cream

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

Pound cake (Use Duncan Hines Yellow Cake; follow recipe for pound cake with instant vanilla pudding); trim off all crusts

1/2 cup Marsala or another sweet wine

1 cup fresh raspberries

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

The recipe consists of pound cake drizzled with wine, creme anglaise, mangoes, whipped cream, and raspberries. Serves 8 - 12.

Directions:

Bake cake according to Duncan Hines Yellow Pound Cake recipe and let cool. Remove crusts. Can be prepared 1 day in advance, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To make the creme anglaise, in a small saucepan, bring 2 cups cream to a bare boil. Add vanilla, and stir. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and 1/2 c sugar until ribbons form. Gradually add 1 cup of the warm cream, and mix well. Add back to the pot with the remaining cream and stirring constantly cook over medium heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whip the remaining 2 cups cream with the 1/4 c confectioners' sugar.

To assemble the trifle, cut the cake into 1/2-inch thick slices to fit tightly into the bottom of a trifle or glass bowl, and slightly up the sides about 1-inch.

Drizzle the cake with the Marsala or sweet wine. Layer 1/3 of the mango over the top of the cake, then top with 1/3 of the creme anglaise, followed by a 1/3 of the raspberries. Repeat the process, layering the remaining ingredients. Top the dessert with the whipped cream. Decorate with 3 raspberries.

This dessert is fun to make and eat and is a family favorite. The whole family can participate in making the trifle, so younger kids might like to beat the cake batter, whip the cream, and make the layers. You can also use seasonal fruits to fit the different holidays. Please note that hard fruits, such as apples or pears will need to be poached in advance. This dessert looks beautiful on a holiday table displayed in a trifle dish.

Whenever we cook for the holidays, it is always a family project. Cooking has been more of a social event for us even with our friends since college days with everyone joining in for the prep work and the cleaning.

Submitted by Renee