Forever Nigella #7 Iced Dreams: Chocolate Cherry Trifle

“You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream”Author Unknown.
Back home, as kids, during the Summer holidays with scorching sun at 45C, apart from running around naked, building sand castles and playing in water to beat the heat...daily ice-cream treats were something we looked forward to. The dreamy softie ones in hues of pink,green, or pristine white, the corenettos loaded with nuts and chocolate, the indian kulfis flavoured with rosewater, saffron, pistachios, mango & almonds or the mouth-watering, tounge colouring Indian ice slush called gola ice …we were spoilt for options. Although I must say my favourite has always been and will be the gola ice in orange, mango, kalakhatta (black grape juice) & many such cocktail flavours. It was fun to just wait for your turn to place the order while the gola wala (vendor) would put a big chunk of ice in his wonder machine (for us he was a magician, turning ice to frozen fantacy) & churn out crushed ice in a giffy, gathering it with his hand, shape it into a candy. A quick precise poke with the stick, a liberal drizzle of orange/red/rose/purple syrup, a squeeze lime, a pinch of the quintessential black salt & Voila! He would beam as we greedy kids would grab a couple of these & relish it with a loud sluuurp as we sucked the tangy sweet & salty syrup, chilled with the frozen ice to quench our thirst. 

I must confess that as adults now, we get so trapped up in our busy lives, we just forget how simplest of things can bring immense pleasure. Now that I live away from home & away from my gola wala (vendor), I try to make my own versions at home, but much creamier, fruitier and probably healthier. Then there are always the convenient tubs of dark chocolate, rocky road, cookie dough, Cornish clotted cream, vanilla etc that you can buy when you don’t feel like bringing out the heavy machinery (the ice-cream maker of course). 

I am chuffed to be hosting this month’s Forever Nigella blogging event. I absolutely adore Nigella (not to mention my hussyband who does too for other reasons). I love the way she breezes through kitchen & whizzes up gourmet food, entertains friends and still manages to look like a million dollar note!I have most of her books but I think Forever Summer is my firm favourite.

I met Sarah at a potluck party and was instantly drawn to her warm & cheerful character and I am glad she let me host this month’s Forever Nigella. 
I have already made Nigella's strawberry ice-cream a gazillion times ever since I saw her make it on the Forever Summer series & didnt have alcohol for her Margharita Ice-cream recipe. Since the theme still says chilled desserts, I chose her Chocolate Cherry Trifle (to exhaust my stock of black cherries in kirsch from christmas), but made the chocolate cake from scratch (unlike her)!

A Reminder of the rules:

Forever Nigella #7 "Iced Dreams"
Challenge :To prepare and blog any Nigella recipe for iced desserts. Not limited to ice creams, sorbets and semifreddo but also any dessert that is best served icy cold.
Deadline : Sunday, July 31, 2011 by midnight your time.
Round up: The Next weekend. 
There are: No rules about how often you must take part
No rules about stuff being secret until certain dates
No rules that everyone cook exactly the same thing
But just 3 rules:
1. Blog your entry by the deadline including:
a) the current Forever Nigella badge
b) a link to the Forever Nigella #7 post at http://debugcooking.blogspot.com/
c) a link to the official Forever Nigella page at Maison Cupcake: http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella
2. So not to breach Nigella’s copyright you must NOT reproduce recipes verbatim as shown in her books. If using an original Nigella recipe, tell us which book it is from and/or where we find it online (see most likely sites below). If you’ve adapted the recipe in some way i.e. changed at least two ingredients or amended the method then it’s ok to publish the a recipe in your post but you MUST write the directions in your own words.
3. Tell us about your post by emailing me: debugcookingATgmailDOTcom and please c.c. sarahATmaisoncupcakeDOTcom with:
a) your name
b) URL of your post
c) a photo no more than 400 pixels wide.
Remember to tweet your post with the hashtag #forevernigella – Sarah at Maison Cupcake will retweet all those she sees!
PS: Your entry must have been published since the announcement post. You may only submit something from your archives if you republish it as a new post.
If you don't have any Nigella books check out these resources online: 
Nigella's official site: http://www.nigella.com/ 
BBC Food: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chefs/nigella_lawson 
Channel 4 Food: http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/popular-chefs/nigella-lawson-recipes 
UKTV Good Food Channel: http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530864/ 
Food Network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/nigella-lawson/index.html 
Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Nigella+Lawson

Chocolate Cherry Trifle

Ingredients (Adapted from Nigella's Recipe)
1 large chocolate pound loaf 
black cherry jam 
60ml Kirsch+ 60ml Brandy 
700g drained black cherries (I used the ones in Kirsch) 
Chocolate Custard
90g Dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids, chopped 
250ml milk 
250ml heavy cream 
6 egg yolks 
85g sugar 
25g cocoa 
Topping: 

250ml Double cream
Dark Chocolate Shavings
Special Equipment: Large wide trifle bowl 
Method:
Spread the chocolate cake slices with the cherry jam, and layer the bottom of a large wide trifle bowl. Pour the Kirsch+Brandy over the cake sandwiches, and then top with the drained cherries. Cover with cling & let it sit, while you make the custard. 
Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Set aside. In a saucepan gently warm the milk and cream. Whisk the yolks, sugar, and cocoa in a bowl. Pour the warm milk and cream into the bowl whisking it into the yolks and sugar mixture. Stir in the melted chocolate, pour the custard back into the saucepan and Cook over a low heat until the custard thickens, stirring all the time. The custard will thicken as it cools and also when it's chilling in the refrigerator. Pour into a bowl to cool and cover the top of the custard with cling wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Once the custard has cooled, pour it over the chocolate-cherry layer in the trifle bowl, and leave in the refrigerator to set, covered in cling film preferably overnight or at least a couple of hours. Whip the double cream for the topping and pipe or spread it gently over the layer of custard. Decorate with chocolate flakes & some fresh cherries.