My mother-in-law, aka the Sherpa, gave this recipe to me. It was the start of my real bonding with the man who was to become my husband. We were on very polite, early dating behavior when we both offered to help clear the table after this insane dessert had been served. Within 30 seconds, the pair of us were hiding in the kitchen, spoon-deep in the crystal bowl, finishing this off. I knew then it was true love.
The first thing the Sherpa does is make the gingerbread, which frankly, seems to me to be absolutely bonkers. The Sherpa is a wonderful cook, but she and I cook very differently. She likes fine French food, and I like throwing things together, very easily, and eating family-style. We threw a dinner party for her last year, and I asked casually, whether she had any recipes she might like us to cook. “Oh yes,” she said, her face lighting up. “I’ll bring them over tomorrow.”
The next day she appeared with a sheath of papers. It was about 3” thick. Apparently, while I was reading it, all the color drained from my face.
The Sherpa makes this trifle entirely from scratch. I would strongly advise a gingerbread mix, adding the fresh and crystallized ginger to give it some zing.
If, however, you are like the Sherpa and you still want to do it from scratch, even though I will think you are nuts, I have included the recipe for the gingerbread.
Reprinted with permission from GOOD TASTE, NAL Books, 2016. By Jane Green. Photo credit: Tom McGovern.
ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith and Jane discuss this recipe—and others for the holidays. And read our review to learn more about Jane’s new book.
- butter for baking dish
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup apple juice
- 1 cup dark molasses
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger
- 3 cups half and half
- 6 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups pureed pumpkin about 1-1/2 cans
- 1 quart heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup crystallized ginger
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Butter and flour a 10" springform pan.
- Stir together flour, cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
- Mix sugar with oil, juice, molasses, eggs and fresh ginger in a large bowl. Mix in crystallized ginger. Stir in flour mixture.
- Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Scald the half-and-half in a heavy saucepan (which means take it to the edge of boiling, then remove from heat).
- Beat eggs, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix in pumpkin and half-and-half. When it is smooth, put it in buttered baking dish, which you then put into a bain-marie: put dish into larger baking dish, and fill larger dish with hot water to about 1” below the rim of the custard dish. Bake for 50 minutes and start to check it. You want a set, firm custard, so that a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and refrigerate overnight.
- To make whipped cream, whip heavy cream with vanilla extract, then fold in crystallized ginger, and set aside.
- To assemble your trifle, spoon half the pumpkin custard into a trifle bowl and layer the gingerbread over that and then half the whipped cream. Do it again. Top the final layer of whipped cream with gingersnaps, or gingersnap crumbs, and if you like, drizzle with Calvados.
One thing people may want to watch out for is the disconnect between the dimension of the gingerbread cake called for above (10 inches) and the dimensions of many trifle bowls (about 8 1/2 inches). And that being said, I can’t wait to try this, so I’m going to call it a dress rehearsal.)
Thank you!
Oh, ya know what? Next to this recipe in the book, you’d see a big picture of Jane taking chunks of gingerbread (I say chunks because they’re larger than cubes, smaller than slabs) and placing them on top of the custard for the layer. Don’t think of the gingerbread layer as being a neat and tidy layer of cake. The cake in a trifle is usually broken up into irregular pieces or cubes. . .gives the cream and custard layer little spaces to fill in (looks pretty in a glass bowl, too). Hope this helps. One last thing, when you make it, can we come over? 😉
Thanks so much – I’m definitely not a cook, and your help is appreciated! With about 10 minutes to go, the gingerbread has significantly improved the smell of my entire neighborhood. Pumpkin custard and assembly tomorrow. I have extra spoons, but the bib is all mine!
Thanks, Robyn!
If you are making homemade gingerbread, I don’t think you can say, “I’m definitely not a cook” anymore. You’re an ambitious cook, in fact! Consider yourself converted. I’m going to need an update after the custard comes together and you grab those spoons. Take a pic, too!
The bain-marie part wasn’t scary at all, thanks to Faith’s explanation, and I sprinkled the whipped cream on top with shreds of fresh ginger (which I fried briefly and then rolled in superfine sugar) and thin slices of candied kumquat. Looked really pretty, and is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Thanks for the encouragement!
Sounds awesome! I’m so glad. I love your subs, too. Candied kumquat?! And you said you weren’t a cook! You most definitely are. Keep inspiring us!
Question
How far in advance could you put this together?
Wendy
Hi Wendy. When Jane was with us, she suggested making the gingerbread and custard a day or two ahead and assembling the trifle the morning you’d be serving it. It gives the custard a chance to soak in a bit.
did I miss something? what size pan do you bake the custard in?
You didn’t miss anything; it isn’t specified. We need John B. to help us out here!
Hi Robyn! I used a 2-qt Pyrex casserole rig and just plunked it in an old metal roasting pan, maybe 9×13 – kind of a tight fit but it worked out fine.
You are awesome! Thanks so much for this.
Thanks!
What size baking dish should the custard go into?
How big of a baking dish should I use for the pumpkin custard?
A side note, I naturally assumed Jane was correct in saying that at this time of year, gingerbread mixes could easily be found. I was surprised this was not the case for me. I could find but one brand box mix. Who would have thought~
Maybe now that it’s really gingerbread season, you’ll see more options on the shelves. See my response to Betty about the baking dish for the custard.
Trader Joe’s always has one available where I shop. I always add extra fresh ginger plus some applesauce and a splurp of molasses and find it quite good.
What size baking dish do you recommend for the custard?
Looks like Jane doesn’t say specifically. As long as your custard baking dish can fit into the larger baking dish for the bain-marie technique (with that inch to spare) you should be fine.
No sugar in the whipped cream?!?
Nope, not in the official recipe. Doesn’t mean you can’t add some if you like your cream sweet, though!
I must have just assumed there’d be sugar in the whipped cream, because I definitely added what I always add: about 2 tbl. confectioners sugar plus about a tsp. of cornstarch per cup of cream. In this case, I added a little less sugar because I doubled (at least…) the amount of crystallized ginger.
Makes a LARGE quantity. Not sure if or how to store the leftovers. I really wanted to like this more after hearing the raves, but was not keen on the molasses flavor in the custard and regret not cooking my own pumpkin pie recipe in the bain marie.
It’s too bad you didn’t love it. Serves 8-10, so it’s meant to feed a crowd. Leftovers are meant to be eaten right out of the trifle bowl around midnight, after all the guests have left or are asleep 😉 Maybe tweak the recipe next time? Skip the molasses all together?
The time this recipe took was more than the recipe’s taste. The custard alone took almost two hours, from mixing to completing in the oven, not to mention the gingerbread, which was an elaborate recipe. It was good, but not that good. Plus the whole eggs and half and half made the custard watery.
Next year, I will make a version of this which will consist of a pumpkin pie made with heavy cream and egg yolks,( as a substitute for whole eggs and evaporated milk in the usual recipes), in a gingersnap crust (rather than pastry), and whipped cream for the top. It will be immensely simpler, and I’m guessing just as good
In the interview Jane did say you could use a boxed gingerbread mix as a time saver. Krusteaz is my favorite.
Sounds like a real belly bomb. I might make it someday.
Made this for Thanksgiving dinner and not a bit left (there was 10 of us). Was a nice change in place of the usual pumpkin pie. I diced the crystallized ginger & sprinkled the whipped cream with it. It was so popular that it was requested again for Christmas!
Holy Spumoni, I made this for Thanksgiving and it went like wildfire!! I used Trade Joe’s Gingerbread mix (I agree, crazy to baking that from scratch – their mix is great), otherwise followed the recipe and added 1 tsp of cardamom to the custard mix. Love trifles for the showstopper appeal when you bring them to the table…and this one didn’t disappoint in the flavor arena either. Will make again for sure.
Wonderful! We’re so glad to hear it was a hit. Thanks, Heide!