Grandma Betty's English Trifle

This is a dessert that my English step-grandmother made when I was a child. It was my favorite, and she would make it for any occasion, even a simple weekend cookout. She passed away when I was 14, and I never had the chance to learn the recipe for myself, and of course, it wasn't written down anywhere. After some trial and error, I came up with this recipe on my own, and to everyone's delight, it tastes just like Grandma Betty's. I make it for special occasions and holidays.

Ingredients
Trifle custard (recipe below)
Pound cake, homemade if you have it, but frozen is fine
1 lb strawberries, rinsed and hulled
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Amaretto, brandy, or other liqueur, to taste
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar

Trifle Custard
2 cups milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
4 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine milk and heavy cream in saucepan; cook over low heat until warm.

2. Combine eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl;

whisk until combined well.

3. Slowly add about 1/4 of warm milk mixture
to eggs,whisking well.

4. Pour egg mixture into saucepan with
remaining milk, stir well

5. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until
mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon.
Remove from heat, add vanilla, and cool to room
temperature.

While the custard cools, prep your other ingredients (or recruit a kid to do it for you, like I did)

Slice the pound cake...

and the strawberries...



and whip the heavy cream with the sugar until almost stiff.

Assembling the trifle

In a trifle bowl, layer pound cake and sprinkle it with liqueur...

then add 1/3 of the strawberries...

then 1/3 of the almonds..



and then 1/3 of the custard



Repeat layers twice more, and it should look like this:

Top it off with the sweetened whipped cream, and any leftover almonds, refrigerate for at least 4 hours, overnight if possible. Enjoy!