Mango Trifle Pudding

Back with the easiest, nostalgia-filled trifle pudding! While mango season is on, do yourself a favour and make this super quick dessert in a jar situation. Use whatever cake or biscuits you have on hand, chop up some mangoes, bananas, and any other fruit and layer away! This is the chilled, fuss-free treat we all need right now.

I had a few leftover ladyfinger biscuits after making tiramisu and…..technically I forgot about them till a few days ago. Luckily, they keep well in the fridge and made the perfect base to soak up the custard, without any need to soak them in syrup or liqueur or anything.

The custard is certainly not purist-approved, but it needs 5 minutes on the stove, about an hour of refrigerator time and that’s that. Lightly sweetened, vanilla flavoured and absolutely perfect for all those amazing mango pieces to be stirred in. I add banana because that’s how fruit custards were made at home while I was growing up, but feel free to skip it or add other fruits. Oranges, grapes, strawberries, nothing really tastes bad!

I assembled this trifle in jars and since ladyfinger biscuits are kind of oblong, it’s harder to press them towards the sides of the jar, so the custard takes over but I promise they’re there! Feel free to use a classic butter cake or crumbled digestive biscuits too. The idea is just to give the custard a little texture but if you were to eat it as is by the bowlful, no judgement!

Once assembled, leave your jars in the fridge to let the biscuits absorb the custard and soften into a cake-like consistency. Since they will continue to soften the longer they sit, this pudding is best eaten immediately. It makes two generous servings, so it’s sort of small-batch and you won’t have tons of leftovers I promise. Try this today!

Mango Trifle Pudding

Easy instant custard layered with ladyfinger biscuits, fresh mango and banana

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 5 minutes mins

Total Time: 15 minutes mins

Makes: 2 large servings

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Ingredients

  

For the custard

• 1 and 1/2 tbsps custard powder (I used vanilla flavoured)
• 1 and 1/2 cups cups whole milk (375 ml)
• 2 tbsps caster sugar

For assembly

• 1 banana, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 ripe but firm mango, cut into bite-sized pieces (I like Alphonso)
• 6 to 7 ladyfinger biscuits (see notes)

Instructions

• To make the custard, I followed the instructions on the back of the box itself and found it worked quite well with a few tweaks to the steps. First, dissolve the custard powder in 1/2 cup milk in a small bowl and set aside. Then in a saucepan, stir the sugar into the remaining 1 cup milk and bring to a simmer on low heat.
• Into this, pour in the custard powder+milk mixture slowly and whisk constantly (a balloon whisk is great here). In a few seconds the mixture will begin to thicken. Cook for about 2 minutes till it coats the back of a spoon and when you run your finger through it, there should be a trail left on the spoon.
• Turn off the heat and let the custard cool for about 30 minutes, before transferring to the fridge for 1 hour or till completely chilled. A skin will inevitably form on top so you can skim off the top just before serving or stir it in like I do. (You can also press clingfilm directly to the surface to prevent the skin from performing but I prefer to avoid plastic in contact with hot food.)
• Before assembly, add the chopped fruit to the custard and stir it all together.
• Now break up the biscuits into half (or smaller pieces depending on the dish you're using) and place two to three pieces in the base of small glasses or jars. Top with a little custard, then repeat until all the biscuits pieces and custard are used up. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the biscuits soften a bit, then dig in!
• The trifle pudding is best eaten immediately after chilling, but it will keep in the fridge for 2 to 3 days, though the biscuits will soften more with time. Happy trifling!

Notes

*In place of the ladyfinger biscuits, you could use layers of graham crackers or digestive biscuits that you break into big pieces, or any other plain-ish biscuits like Parle G. If you'd like to use cake pieces or crumbs, try this classic butter cake (already scaled down for this kind of recipe) or this eggless butter cake (which you'll need to cut down by at least half for this recipe).

*While the custard is eggless, keep in mind that store-bought ladyfinger biscuits usually contain eggs.

*The recipe can be scaled up as needed for more servings.

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