Serves 8

1½ cups plain flour

¾ cup self-raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tbsp ground ginger

3 tsp mixed spice

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup golden syrup

1 cup milk

½ cup light olive oil

2 eggs

600ml thickened cream

1 vanilla bean, split

5 egg yolks (extra)

½ cup brown sugar (extra)

1 tbsp cornflour

300ml thickened cream (extra)

2 large mangoes, peeled and cut into wedges

3 large yellow peaches, cut into wedges

2 x 125g punnet blueberries

¼ cup flaked almonds, toasted

1 Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line 
a 30cm x 20cm x 5cm-deep slab pan with baking paper.

2 To make gingerbread, sift flours, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and mixed spice into a large bowl. Add sugar and stir until well combined. Combine golden syrup, milk, oil and eggs in a jug. Add to flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 40–45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

3 To make custard, heat cream and vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles form around edge of saucepan. Remove from heat. Using an electric beater, beat egg yolks (extra), sugar (extra) and cornflour in a small bowl until thick and pale. Remove vanilla bean from cream. Slowly add vanilla cream to egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. Return custard to saucepan. Over medium-low heat, stir for 4–5 minutes or until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Do not boil. Pour custard through a sieve into a bowl. Cover surface of custard with plastic wrap. Allow to cool and then refrigerate.

4 Pour cream (extra) into a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form.

5 To assemble trifle, cut gingerbread into small cubes. Put some gingerbread in a large, deep glass dish. Top with some custard, cream and fruit. Continue to layer trifle, ending with fruit on top. Sprinkle with almonds. Refrigerate until required.

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