Blueberry Trifle

I am sure everyone is enjoying the beautiful and bright days of spring after the long grey winters. Spring is my favourite season of the year and I am sure its yours too. Thats because its a season of changes and it brings freshness to our lives and we see so many changes happening around us like the birds chirping happily, new leaves growing on the dry branches, beautiful beds of daffodils growing everywhere and also for me the most exciting part about this season is hosting parties and inviting friends for BBQ parties. We just had a BBQ day last weekend and I can't wait for the weather to get better so we can have more fun . And I love to end these parties with yummy and easy-peasy desserts. And this Blueberry trifle is one of my favourite spring/summer desserts. If you prepare the sauce ahead, its just a matter of assembling this.

Trifles are usually served in tranparant bowls/glasses to show the different layers in it. So make sure you are either using a big serving bowl or individual glasses for this. Traditionally alcohol is sprinkled on the layers of pound cake. But because we don't consume alcoholic drink, I have replaced it by making a vanilla syrup. So, go ahead and try this easy dessert and believe me you would be very pleased to see the pleasant smiles on your guest's face.



BLUEBERRY TRIFLE
Adapted from Joy of Baking
-serves 4

Ingredients:
8 slices of sponge cake/ pound cake,
3-4 tbsp vanilla syrup,
1 cup fresh Blueberries,
1 cup Blueberry sauce,
1 cup heavy whipping cream,
1/2 cup Mascarpone cheese,
1/2 tsp vanilla essence,
3 tbsp granulated sugar and
3-4 digestive cookies/ gingersnap cookies.

For Bleueberry sauce:
1-2 cups fresh Blueberries,
1/2 cup of sugar,
1 tbsp of cornstarch and
juice of half lemon.

For vanilla syrup:
1/2 cup of water,
2 tbsp of sugar and
1 tbsp of vanilla essence.


Method:
Using a cookie cutter cut the pound cake slices into 8 rounds according to the diameter of the glasses you are serving the trifle in. Now in a bowl, place the whipping cream, mascarpone cheese, sugar and vanilla essence and whip till soft peaks.

To make the blueberry sauce:
Combine all the ingredients listed above in a non stick saucepan and cook over a medium heat until the sugar melts, the blueberries break and cook till it reaches the consistency of a sauce. Cool in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the syrup:
Put all the ingredients- water, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and mix till well blended and keep aside.

To assemble:
Place 1 round slice of the pound cake at the bottom of the glass, sprinkle with 1 tsp of the vanilla syrup, And spread around 1 tbsp of the prepared blueberry sauce on the pound cake. Place some fresh Blueberries and place a dollop of whipped cream-mascarpone mixture. Now repeat another layer and refrigerate for 4-6 hours or till ready to serve. Just before serving sprinkle with some crushed cookies and top it with few fresh blueberries.

Note:
Refrigerating the Trifle will allow all the flavours to mingle and makes it more tasty. So its always better to prepare this dish in advance and store it in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

You can replace the blueberry sauce with any jam or fruit preserve. And also if you don't have whipped cream-mascarpone mixture, you can just use whipped cream or just plain old custard between the layers.