6-Layer Passionfruit and Lemon Trifle Cups

 I know, I know, yet another chilled dessert in the middle of winter, but seriously, this one's amazing and you'll definitely be missing out if you don't make some for yourself! And if you've noticed, I'm totally hooked with vibrant foods right now, and yellow just happens to be one of my favourite colour so I knew I just had to... 

It's been a week already since my school holidays started and since I'm in year 12, when I get back to school in 2 weeks, exams will be waiting for me. So I think these 3 weeks are in fact just intense study period aka a reaaaally badly disguised holiday. And you know what, I HATE IT! After 9 gruelling weeks of school, I was so excited to have finally reached the end, yet we're expected to do more studying? Say whaaaat? It's so unfair! And so far, I've done close to no schoolwork and instead spent hours editing photos, making food, making a new banner, grazing on food blogs, submitting photos to foodgawker and the like. Okay, so you get it, I've been completely zonked out from reality and went down the spiral of food blogging to the point of no return these last few days. So I've made a little pact with myself- no more cooking, well at least no big projects for the rest of the holidays and gotta focus on studying now... But for the moment, let's just finish this post, I hate leaving things unfinished, you know what I'm sayin'?

 When I saw the original recipe here, I knew I couldn't make a big one since I don't own any big trifle stands, so I decided to make individual cups instead- which made sense since serving it individually would've been much easier anyway. I had some trouble with the champagne mousse setting properly but maybe that's just my problem and I replaced the passionfruit cream with some low fat passionfruit yoghurt, partly to attempt to do some good for my tummy and also because I didn't really like whipped cream and the ultimate reason was that I was just too lazy! And of course, making macarons specifically for this dessert was just out of question for me, so naturally, I omitted them making 6-layered trifles instead of the original 7. The layers are: passion pop champagne mousse, lemon cake, passionfruit/lemon curd, passiona jelly, passionfruit yoghurt and yellow swirl meringue cookies. Take a deep breathe, it looks like alot of prep but just divide into two days. I made my mousse first so it would set in the fridge as the base of the trifle, curd and jelly on one day and the next the meringues and lemon cake and you'll find it pretty chill if you split it like that. So here goes:

Passionfruit and Lemon Trifle Cups

Makes 5 individual trifle cups

Recipe adapted from raspberri cupcakes 

For the passion pop mousse: (Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes)

1/2 cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
1/8 cup plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
2/3 cups Passion Pop
1 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin
1 1/2 tbsp water (or Passion Pop)

NOTE: If passion pop is unavailable you can replace it with champagne mixed with passionfruit pulp to taste. 

1. In a medium bowl, whip the heavy cream with an electric hand mixer until stiff peaks form.  Place in refrigerator until ready for use.

2. Place a saucepan filled 1/3 with water over medium-high heat until water is simmering.

3. Combine the egg yolks and sugar in a stainless steel (or glass) heatproof bowl.  Whisk until lightened in color.  Add the champagne and whisk until combined.  Place bowl over simmering water.

4. Whisk mixture constantly.  The champagne will cause the mixture to fizz and foam.  Keep whisking! Mixture will begin to thicken.  When the mixture is ready the mixture will have thickened and gained volume, and it will have lost its foaminess.  Remove bowl from the simmering saucepan and continue to whisk for 1-2 minutes.  Set aside.

5. Place the  water (or champagne) in a small microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle gelatin evenly over the liquid.  Let set until absorbed - about 5 minutes.  Heat the absorbed gelatin mixture for 10 seconds in the microwave, or heat until the gelatin has completely melted.

6. Whisk gelatin into the champagne mixture;  fold in the whipped cream with a rubber spatula.

7. Pour mousse mixture directly into the bottom of the trifle bowl and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours.

For the lemon cake:

70g (5 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing tin
170g (about 3/4 cup) sugar
125g (1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking (bicarb) soda
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup milk
2 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F), grease and line the base of a 17x27cm rectangular slice/brownie tins with baking paper. 

2. Whisk together flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Stir milk and lemon juice together in a cup. 

3. Place softened butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about two minutes. Add zest, and add eggs one and a time, beating until well combined. 

4. Reduce speed to medium-low and add half the flour mixture, followed by half the milk mixture mixing until just combined, then add the rest of the flour followed by the rest of the milk and beat until smooth. 

5. Pour batter into prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the cake is golden brown on the outside. Cool in tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes then carefully remove from tin and cool completely on wire rack.

6. Using a round cookie cutter with a diameter which would fit snugly into your glass on top of the mousse, cut 5 cake rounds. Set aside until ready to assemble

For the lemon & passionfruit curd:

3 passionfruit

Juice and grated zest of 1/2 a lemon (about 2 tbsp juice)

2 eggs + 1 egg yolk

100g (bit less than 1/2 cup) sugar

70g (5 tbsp) butter, softened

1. Place all ingredients except the butter in a saucepan and place on low heat. 

2. Stir continuously until it's thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 5-8 minutes.  

3. Remove from the heat, strain to remove passionfruit seeds (if you prefer) and whisk in butter until smooth. 

4. Pour into a bowl and cover surface with clingfilm. Keep chilled in the fridge until ready to spread over top of cake layer.

For the passionfruit jelly:

2 tbsp powdered gelatine

200ml (about 3/4 cup) + 600ml passionfruit flavoured soda (about 2 1/2 cups) 

1. Place 200ml passiona and powdered gelatine in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until the gelatine is well dissolved. 

2. Pour gelatine mixture plus 600ml passiona into a cake tin or rectangular tray to set. 

3. Chill in fridge until set, then cut using a long sharp knife into 1cm cubes. Keep chilled in the fridge until ready to sprinkle over curd layer.

For the passionfruit yoghurt layer:

1 1/4 cup of passionfruit yoghurt ( or whatever floats your boat- vanilla, lemon cheesecake etc)

Spoon about 1/4 cup of yoghurt on top of the jelly cubes in each cup.

For the mini yellow swirled meringue cookies: 

(Adapted from from Butter Me Up Brooklyn)

1. Preheat oven to 90°C  and line two baking sheets with parchment. Combine egg whites, sugar and vanilla bean in a medium heatproof bowl, then set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water for 3 minutes. Stir the mixture occasionally to make sure the sugar is dissolved.                              
2. Carefully remove the bowl (I set mine on a dish cloth to absorb any water that might be hanging on the outside) and add salt and cream of tartar. Beat on high for 7 minutes, until soft, glossy peaks form and the mixture has slightly cooled. Add the orange zest and beat until combined.
3. Using a small clean paintbrush, paint three stripes of food coloring on the inside of a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip. Dab a tiny bit of the meringue on each corner of the baking sheet to make sure that the parchment stays in place when you are forming your little cookies of beauty.
4. Fill the bag with meringue and pipe small swirls on the baking sheet. Bake for one hour and 15 minutes or until the outside of the cookies are crisp.
5. Let cool for several minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
6. When ready to serve trifle, arrange neatly on top of the yoghurt layer


And you're done, and all that's left is to enjoy your creation! The layers are absolutely divine, so refreshing yet there is also the creaminess of the mousse, curd, yoghurt and meringue. I will definitely make it again! Best trifle ever- and I admit I used to think trifles were boring as the ones I've seen previously were just layers of whipped cream, swiss rolls with jam and fruit.