Cranberry Jelly Trifles with Coconut Milk Yoghurt

dairy free egg free nut free gluten free vegan

Last Christmas, I made a festive trifle with an Italian twist - cranberry jelly layered with marsala-soaked pandoro slices and a lightly-whipped mascarpone. Not much of that was suitable for my allergic girl of course, so I made a kid-friendly version also, featuring the new love of my life: Coyo Natural Coconut Milk Yoghurt.

Coyo is made from organic coconut milk, is lusciously creamy and smooth, and has a mildly sour tang - just as a natural yoghurt should. Natural yoghurt is so much more useful in cooking and baking than the sweetened stuff. Often the only non-dairy varieties available are soy-based and let's face it, soy yoghurt has that indomitable soy taste.

(Next stop: make my own once I've found a dairy-free yoghurt starter/probiotic...)

Serves about 8

Sponge cake slices, broken up in small pieces (I made one pack of Deliciously Good Moist Golden Butter Cake Mix which is gluten, dairy, egg, nut free)
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 tub Coyo Natural Coconut Milk Yoghurt
Mixed berries to serve

Cranberry Jelly

3 teaspoons powdered gelatine (or agar agar powder if vegan) 

1/4 cup cold water 

600ml cranberry juice

To make the jelly, place water in a small bowl and sprinkle over gelatine. Set aside for a couple of minutes or until firm. Bring the cranberry juice to the boil in a saucepan then reduce the heat to low. Add the gelatine mixture and stir until it has dissolved completely. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.  Pour into individual glasses for the first trifle layer (pour to just a third of glass). Refrigerate until set (at least a few hours).

To assemble the remainder of the trifles, soak pieces of sponge in orange juice (or alcohol such as marsala or cointreau if you can tolerate) and layer on top of jelly. Spoon over coconut yoghurt. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight to set, then top with berries just before serving.