Apricot Trifle

A simple apricot trifle or apricot dessert made with leftover cake and served with whipped cream.

Simple Apricot Dessert

This apricot trifle is one of the simplest desserts I have ever made. Some leftover cake, which I happen to have from time to time, a quick and aromatic apricot sauce and some whipped cream.

How to make it?

Apricot sauce:

• If you have made the Apricot Sauce, this is a great way of using the leftovers.
• If not, you could cook the sauce just for this apricot dessert, it won't be a lot of extra work and it is worth it.
• Or, if you have another compote or fruit sauce in the house feel free to use that.
• I can imagine this apricot trifle turning to a delicious cherry or peach trifle or even a more Christmassy dessert with a nice and sweet cranberry sauce.
• You can make the apricot sauce either with fresh or with canned apricots.
• Canned apricots mean you don't even have to wait for the apricot season or go buy fresh apricots, you might just happen to have an apricot (or peach) can in your pantry.

Canned apricots:

• If you make the sauce with canned apricots, don't cook the canned apricots, they are already soft.
• Pour the juice from the can into a measuring jug. If you don't have the required 125 ml/ 4.2 fl.oz/ ½ cup liquid, add some water to get there.
• Add just a little sugar, if you find it necessary. Use less sugar than you would use when making the sauce with fresh apricots, as the syrup from the can is already sweetened.
• Let simmer for 3 minutes. Thicken the apricot sauce with the cornstarch. In order to do that, whisk together the cornstarch with 2-3 teaspoons of cold water in a small bowl. Whisk this mixture into the sauce and let bubble a few times until the sauce thickens slightly. Add the sliced apricots and stir. Let cool.

Fresh apricots:

• Halve the apricots and cut each half into 2 or 3 slices.
• Place the sugar, water, and apricots in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 3 minutes.
• In a small bowl whisk together the cornstarch with 2-3 teaspoons cold water. You should have a thick yet pourable cornstarch slurry. Whisk this mixture into the sauce and let bubble a few times until the sauce thickens slightly. Let cool.

Crumbles:

• The crumbles are just leftover cake, in my case leftover cake scrapings from making this cake base for a fondant decorated cake. I bake a lot, including more elaborate wedding or birthday cakes and I always have leftover cake in my freezer. This apricot dessert is a great way of using them.
• If you don't have any cake leftovers you could bake that cake or another one you like or you could use a ready-made cake, your favorite brand.
• The quantities are not an exact science. Use the leftover cake you have and adjust the fruit sauce quantities accordingly.
• To prepare the trifle, crumble the cake with your hands.
• Melt the butter in a large pan, add the crumbles to the pan, sprinkle with the sugar and toast, stirring often, for about 8-10 minutes, until they are fragrant and not so soft anymore. Let cool.

Assemble the trifle

• Butter a small serving dish or casserole dish.
• Start layering the cake crumbles and the apricot sauce, finishing with a layer of crumbles.
• The apricot layer should be more or less as thick as the crumble layer. In the end, I had 3 crumble layers and two apricot sauce layers, if you have more ingredients just make more layers.
• Chill the apricot trifle for a few hours before serving.
• Garnish with fresh lemon balm or mint (if you have them, it is optional) and whipped cream.
• Whipped cream is only used for garnishing the dessert, 240 ml/ 1 cup of heavy or whipping cream should be enough. The apricot trifle is pretty sweet, so I never add sugar to the cream when serving it. But, of course, you can do that if you wish.

The inspiration for this recipe came from an old Romanian newspaper cut from 1938.

Here are other fruit sauces you could use instead of the apricot sauce:

• Rhubarb Compote from the French Crepes recipe
• Strawberry Sauce from the German Cast-Iron Pancakes recipe
• Blueberry Sauce
• Cherry Sauce

More apricot desserts:

Apricot Cheesecake - No Bake

Easy Apricot Cake

Rice Pudding with Apricot Sauce

Apricot Jam Crumble Cake