Ingredients

Serves 12

10 passionfruit
6 large ripe mangoes
500 ml double cream
2 x roughly 500 g shop-bought sponge cakes
¼ cup sweet sherry
5 Vietnamese rice paper discs
Canola oil for deep frying


Custard
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup pouring cream
6 egg yolks
1 tablespoon cornflour
½ teaspoon vanilla syrup
100 g caster sugar
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

In a large frying pan, pour enough canola oil to fill the pan to a depth of 1 cm. Test the oil is hot enough by breaking off a small piece of the rice paper disc and placing it gently into the oil. It should sizzle straight away and rise to the surface, becoming opaque. Fry each disc one at a time. They should take only a few seconds to cook. Remove from the oil and place on kitchen paper immediately. Leave the discs to cool.

To make the custard, combine the buttermilk and cream in a saucepan over low heat and bring almost to the boil; this should take about 6–8 minutes.
Take off the heat. Combine the egg yolks, cornflour, vanilla syrup and sugar and whisk well. Place the buttermilk and cream mixture back over the heat and add the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Be patient. After 12–15 minutes, you should start to see the mixture thickening.

Take off the heat and pour into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down on the surface to prevent a thin skin forming. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, scoop the flesh of the passionfruit into a bowl and set aside.

Peel the mangoes and cut off the cheeks. Cut the cheeks into slices and set aside. Whip the cream until you have soft peaks; ensuring they’re not too stiff.

Roughly break up the sponge cakes and arrange a third of them in the base of a glass dish with high sides. Drizzle a tablespoon of the sherry over the top. Spoon over a little of the passionfruit pulp. Then arrange a third of the mangoes on top. Pour some of the custard over the top and a third of the cream. Arrange another third of the broken sponge cake over the top and repeat layering the ingredients as before. Make sure you save a little of the passionfruit pulp for the top of the trifle.

Stack the rice paper discs one on top of the other, then dust with icing sugar just before serving the trifle.

Hungry: Food From My Heart by Guy Mirabella, Plum Press, RRP: $49.95