*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details!*

An easy gingerbread trifle with ginger cake, gingerbread, custard, ginger cream, caramel and more! Perfect no-bake dessert for the festive season!

Trifle

So, who doesn’t love trifle?! Actually.. technically me. I have a hatred of cream + jelly together, or custard + jelly together. I know right, call me crazy.. but I was never the kid that loved jelly and ice cream when I was younger. Couldn’t stand it! 

However… after the success of my chocolate orange trifle, and just how delicious I found that, I couldn’t resist making another one for the festive season. It is, my version though… so there is no jelly. 

Gingerbread trifle

My only exception to the jelly & cream rule, is my Jaffa cake cheesecake as that is just out. of. this. world. This particular gingerbread trifle? All it has is ginger cake, gingerbread biscuits, custard, ginger cream, caramel and some decorations! 

This may sound a little weird to some people, but trust me… this is SCRUMPTIOUS. I realise that I do say that about every recipe, but I’m not going to post a recipe of something that I don’t think is delicious, as there really would be no point! 

Jelly

I genuinely did contemplate trying to incorporate jelly into this trifle somehow to make it more ‘classic’ but at the end of the day… it’s gingerbread themed, so it’s not classic at all. I knew I would make a gingerbread trifle that I know I adore, and that I know you will all love too! 

Ginger cake

I used McVitie’s Jamaica ginger cake for this for the ginger cake as I just adore it, and it was the cheapest in the shop I was in. Any ginger cake will do! If you really do want to make this homemade, you can easily make my gingerbread loaf cake sponge and then use that!

Gingerbread men

For the gingerbread men, I used my favourite mini ones as per usual. It’s hard to put a quantity/weight on this part of the recipe as most supermarkets sell them, but most packets weights or how many you get in the packet vary SO much! I’ve bought them in Tesco, Asda, and Sainsburys!

Custard

I used pre-bought custard for this, as I can rarely be bothered to make my own.. and the shop bought is always the perfect amount! I do always use the more expensive kind with the vanilla bean flecks in though as I prefer it!

Ginger cream

For the ginger cream, I use double cream whisked with a bit of icing sugar and ground ginger. The ginger creates a beautiful sweet, but not too sweet cream with a wonderful warming hint. It’s a beautiful light touch for this dessert!

Caramel and sprinkles

The rest is easy.. pre-made caramel, and some sprinkles! These are both optional, but I genuinely loved the touch of caramel inside this pudding! You could add in some sea-salt if you prefer to make it slightly elevated, but that’s up to you! 

Trifle bowl

I went for a simple glass trifle bowl as I love to be able to see all the layers in this bake – but any sort of bowl will do! Remember that some trifle bowls/dessert bowls can vary greatly in size so! Anyway… I hope you all loveeee this beautiful no-bake gingerbread trifle as much as I do! 

Other gingerbread recipes

This is definitely the year for gingerbread – I am OBSESSED! Christmas for me is cinnamon and gingerbread and I am salivating! I have soo many (almost too many) other gingerbread recipes to choose from such as blondies, brownies, loaf cake, caramel ginger cake – you must start trying them all now! Enjoy!

Gingerbread Trifle!

An easy gingerbread trifle with ginger cake, gingerbread, custard, ginger cream, caramel and more! Perfect no-bake dessert for the festive season!
Print Pin Rate
Category: Dessert
Type: Desserts
Keyword: Christmas, Gingerbread, Trifle
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Assembly Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 15 People
Author: Jane's Patisserie

Ingredients

  • 450 g ginger cake
  • 250 g gingerbread men
  • 500 g vanilla custard
  • 600 ml double cream
  • 75 g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 350 g caramel
  • Sprinkles

Instructions

  • Start by prepping your ingredients - I slice my ginger cake into 1-2cm thin slices, whip my cream with the icing sugar and ground ginger, and get everything else ready.
  • I then layer my trifle!
  • I use half of the ginger cake on the bottom.
  • I then gently press half of the gingerbread biscuits in circles around the edge of the trifle bowl.
  • I then layer on half of the custard, and half of the cream, and half of the caramel.
  • Then, repeat the process.
  • To decorate, I use sprinkles and gingerbread men crumbs!

Notes

  • These weights/volumes are all estimates as it's going to depend on the shape of your bowl!
  • You can swap it up and change things where you fancy, this recipe is a guide!
  • I used McVitie's ginger cake, supermarket own gingerbread men, and carnations caramel - the rest is supermarket own branded items!
  • I recommend using this trifle bowl!
  • And I bought my beautiful cute sprinkles from Iced Jems
  • This is best served on the day or the day after, but make sure your ingredients are fresh!

ENJOY!

Find my other Recipes on my Recipes Page!

You can find me on:
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Youtube

J x

© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.

18 Comments

  1. Billy on January 1, 2024 at 9:54 pm

    5 stars
    Loved making this trifle even made the caramel sauce an gingerbread cake. Followed the recipe to the latter which it very easy to do.

    This was made for my Dad’s Birthday and the only comment he made besides Mmmmmmm, was that it needs to have a health warning ⚠️ sticker as it is so moreish

  2. Caroline Nicholls on January 28, 2022 at 10:33 pm

    5 stars
    We all loved this trifle on Christmas day.
    A small ammount was left for Boxing day, more delicious in taste and had to have a game to see who would win the pudding!!!

  3. Nanny Sue on January 3, 2022 at 9:40 pm

    5 stars
    Made for NYE was absolutely stunning thank you x

  4. Samantha Oliver on December 27, 2021 at 10:44 pm

    5 stars
    Hi…I made this as one of my Christmas day desserts along with your chocolate orange cheesecake. Now I am a traditional trifle girl however this is by far the most delicious trifle I’ve ever eaten and was a big big hit with the family!!!!!! So thank you!! Can always guarantee a tasty pud from your blog!!!! X x

  5. El on December 23, 2021 at 5:23 pm

    Would normal custard work or does it need to be vanilla? Can’t find any in shops, prob all sold out!

    • Jane's Patisserie on December 30, 2021 at 10:17 am

      Normal custard would absolutely work – whatever you prefer! Enjoy! x



  6. Liz Russell Flaherty on December 20, 2021 at 9:57 am

    Could this be made the night before?

    • Jane's Patisserie on December 20, 2021 at 10:41 am

      Yes absolutely you can! Enjoy! x



  7. Julie Graham on November 16, 2021 at 7:15 am

    If I was to add alcohol to the ginger cake to moisten it a bit what would you recommend or do you think it would ruin the trifle

  8. Sue Pitts on November 4, 2021 at 9:36 am

    Hi is there anything I could substitute the custard with please ?

  9. Jess on December 24, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    Hello! I’m making this recipe for Christmas tomorrow but I can’t find any ground ginger in the supermarkets anywhere. Would cinnamon work or should I miss it out instead? Thank you :)!

    • Jane's Patisserie on December 26, 2020 at 9:32 pm

      If you like cinnamon it would be lovely! x



  10. Lealo on October 11, 2020 at 2:24 am

    when you say caramel, do you mean carnations caramel or carmel dipping sauce?

    • Jane's Patisserie on October 11, 2020 at 3:22 pm

      For this, you can use either – I tend to use carnations!



  11. Ione Gillard on December 27, 2019 at 3:08 pm

    Instead of plain double cream could I use baileys double cream?

    • Jane's Patisserie on December 28, 2019 at 9:20 am

      You can – but baileys cream sometimes isn’t as good at whipping.



  12. Amy Thomas on November 27, 2019 at 5:15 pm

    Hi, do you have any suggestions for how I can make this cream free please?

    • Amy L Withers on November 23, 2021 at 9:37 pm

      I use dream whip in cream free recipes



Leave a Comment

Recipe Rating








This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.