Trifle is a word with two primary meanings: (1) something of little value, substance, or importance; and (2) a classic layered cold dessert of English origin.
Etymology
The word trifle entered Middle English as truf(f)le, derived from Old French truf(f)e meaning "deceit" or "gibe," of unknown origin. The verb form appeared in the 14th century (earlier bitrufle, "cheat, delude," in the 13th century). The sense of a light confection or dessert emerged later.
Meanings
As a noun
- A thing of little value or importance — e.g., "we needn't trouble the headmaster over such trifles."
- A small amount (used in the singular) — e.g., "the thousand yen he'd paid seemed the merest trifle."
- A cold dessert (chiefly British) — a layered dish of sponge cake and fruit covered with custard, jelly, and cream.
As a verb
- Trifle with — to treat someone or something without seriousness or respect: "he is not a man to be trifled with."
- Trifle something away (archaic) — to waste something, especially time, frivolously.
- To talk or act frivolously (archaic): "we will not trifle—life is too short."
As an adverbial phrase
A trifle — a little; somewhat: "his methods are a trifle eccentric."
The Dessert
Description
Trifle is a layered cold dessert of English origin. The usual ingredients, arranged in ascending order in a glass dish, are:
- A thin layer of ladyfingers or sponge cake soaked in sherry or another fortified wine
- A fruit element (fresh fruit or fruit jelly)
- Custard
- Whipped cream
The assembled dessert can be topped with whipped cream or, more traditionally, syllabub. The contents are highly variable; many varieties exist, some forgoing fruit entirely and using chocolate, coffee, or vanilla instead. The fruit and sponge layers may be suspended in fruit-flavoured jelly, and the ingredients are usually arranged to produce three or four distinct layers.
History
The name trifle was used for a dessert resembling a fruit fool (puréed fruit mixed with sweetened cream) as early as the 16th century. The earliest known use of the name in a cookery book was in Thomas Dawson's The Good Huswifes Jewell (1585), which described a thick cream flavoured with sugar, ginger, and rosewater, cooked gently like a custard and presented in a silver bowl. These early trifles are said to have derived from the flavoured almond milk of medieval times.
It was not until the mid-18th century that trifles took the form now widely recognized. Two recipes for what is considered the modern trifle appeared in 1751: one in the 4th edition of Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy and another in the anonymous The Whole Duty of a Woman. Both described biscuits soaked in wine, layered with custard, and covered in a whipped syllabub froth.
Jelly was first recorded as part of a trifle in Hannah Glasse's "A Grand Trifle" in The Compleat Confectioner (1760), which instructed the reader to use calves' feet to make a rich jelly, half-fill the dish with it, and stick broken biscuits and macaroons into the jelly before it set.
The late 19th century was a heyday for trifles. Theodore Francis Garrett's The Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery (1891) contained thirteen trifle recipes, including two unusual savoury versions—one with veal and one with lobster.
In 2022, a lemon Swiss roll and amaretti trifle created by Jemma Melvin was selected as the Platinum Pudding to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. For the Coronation of King Charles III in 2023, Adam Handling created a Coronation Trifle made with parkin, ginger custard, and strawberry jelly.
Variations
- Tipsy Laird — a Scottish variation made with Drambuie or whisky.
- Zuppa Inglese ("English soup") — an Italian dessert similar to and probably based on trifle.
- Tiramisù — prepared similarly to trifle but without fruit, with ladyfingers dipped in coffee rather than spirits.
- In Australia, trifle is a popular Christmas dessert, traditionally made with Swiss or sponge rolls, tinned peaches, jelly (often the Aeroplane brand), vanilla custard, and whipped cream.
Similar desserts
- Cassata, Crema de fruta, Pavê, Icebox cake, Parfait, Pudding, Eton mess
References
- Davidson, Alan (2014). The Oxford Companion to Food (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Gray, Annie (2019). The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook.
- Saberi, Helen (2009). Trifle. Prospect Books.
- The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (T. F. Hoad)
- A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition (David A. Bender)
