Pear Trifle (6)
Ingredients
Mascarpone cream
To decorate
Instructions
  1. Peel the pears, halve them and remove their cores. Bring the sugar and water to the boil in a saucepan, add the cloves and orange zest, then add the pears. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer, then leave to soften. Check their progress. They will take anything from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on their ripeness.
  2. Crumble the biscuits or sponge into the bottom of a large, deep bowl, pour over the marsala, then press the sponge into the liquid with a spoon until lightly moistened. Remove 100ml of the pear cooking syrup and spoon that over the biscuits, too. They should be nicely soaked in marsala and syrup.
  3. Slice each pear half into 4 then lay them over the surface of the soaked biscuits and set aside.
  4. Make the custard layer by beating the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, a job most best done with a food mixer, then fold in the mascarpone and vanilla.
  5. Beat the whites until thick, then fold into the mascarpone cream and pile on top of the layer of pears. Cover tightly with clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour. Whip the cream, spread on top of the trifle then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or, if possible, overnight.
  6. To serve, crush the cinder toffee then scatter on top of the cream.