For Harry’s 40th birthday, I wanted to make a trifle, because trifle is delicious and there’s a recipe for it in the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook.

Then my custard split.

At least, I assume that’s what happened. It didn’t exactly look like scrambled eggs, the way they always say on Great British Bake Off, but it didn’t look Right.

So I was In Distress, until Kevin went and bought all the pudding cups our local shop had in stock. (And they turned out to be 5 for 5$!)

And it turns out, trifle can be very, very simple to make. Much simpler than the recipe I was using. This was moderately upsetting, since I’d had so much go wrong using the Proper Recipe, so now I’m sharing my new, modified, Angry Trifle process.

Bess’ Angry Trifle

1. Make it in a glass container. Way easier to store, equally pretty.
2. Buy yellow cake mix and bake that. OR buy a plain yellow cake, if you can. Especially if it’s loaf shaped and not round shaped.
3. Buy pudding. It took about six pudding cups for my trifle, but it was giant because that’s the only trifle dish I own is giant. (It is also a punch bowl and cake display. Mostly I use it to hold fresh fruit.)
4. Slice up a bunch of strawberries into pretty slices. You know the kind.
5. Cut the cake into 1/2 inch(ish) slices. If you made round cakes and not loaf cakes, just cut in in half like a hamburger bun.
6. Spread jam (usually strawberry, but I also used pomegranate when my strawberry ran out) on half the cake. Create Jam Sandwiches.
7. Make a layer of Jam Sandwiches at the bottom of your container
8. Make a layer of pudding.
9. Stand strawberries around the outside edge to make it Pretty.
10. Cover the top with strawberries.

the end!

In theory you’re supposed to make trifle the day before so it can combine and be extra tasty, but I’m just not that kind of person. It does make a good breakfast the day after, though.