Strawberry Trifle

Many of you are anxious to know the results of our donated brunch on the Chesapeake Bay yesterday.

It was a great success, bones or no bones in the salmon steaks. The herb sauce with sorrel was a huge hit, as was the quinoa pilaf with peas, fava beans and toasted almonds.

But the star of the day had to be my wife's strawberry trife, which looked remarkably like this photo at left from dianasdesserts.com.

The basic components are sponge cake, pastry cream, whipped cream and fresh strawberries. My wife made the pastry cream a couple of days ahead, then assembled the finished trifle the evening before the brunch.

Brunch was presented as a buffet. But I served the trifle at the table from a traditional trifle bowl. Eyes grew wide. There were many audible oohs and ahhs. And every person at the table had seconds.

I'm sure you all have your own favorite recipes for sponge cake and pastry cream, so I won't burden you with that. Break the sponge cake into brownie-sized chunks as you go. Use your own artistic impulses to layer the ingredients into a stunning dessert.

It does make a show-stopping presentation.