The fourth in our series of recipe collaborations with Macknade brings you sweet-lovers a twist on a seasonal trifle full of festive cheer

One of the unsung heroes of the festive dining season, but the panettone is one of those treats that should always make it onto the Christmas table. In this recipe there is a clever twist, combining the festive cake with a traditional trifle for a totally unique desert this year.

Great for individual or shared serving (depending on the size of your dishes!) panettone trifles are incredibly easy to make, pairing cherries steeped in Kirsch with a tangy, slightly sweetened whipped cream and pillowy slices of panettone for the perfect make-ahead dessert for the festive season - if you prefer to use a different preserved fruit, go ahead, but the panettone is essential to adding the extra flavours from the candied peel and dried fruit that take these trifles to the next level.

Macknade Panettone

While it stocks a huge selection of panettone (including gluten-free, vegan, alcohol-soaked and chocolate), Macknade’s house panettone is baked by the Vergani family, in the heart of Milano, the home of traditional panettone.

Angelo Vergani set up his little enterprise in the midst of the Second World War and, 75 years on, the name is still synonymous with top-quality panettone.

The leaven used to make each modern panettone, still baked in Milano and indeed the only commercial-scale bakery to still be rooted in the northern capital, is taken from the very same natural mother yeast with which Angelo started his bakery in 1944!

Vergani sources the best, never cutting corners… butter where others use margarine, high-quality dried fruits and nuts, so important in delivering intensity and texture, and, in line with the family’s welfare beliefs, only free-range eggs.

At Macknade, Vergani is what we share at our own Christmas table, little hands tearing off great chunks, while the elders ‘dip it and sip’ with fragrant sweet wine from the wonderful Domaine Sainte Rose in the Languedoc!

INGREDIENTS

AVAILABLE IN STORE / Every serving dish varies, so use the ‘per serving’ measurements as guide

Preserved cherries in Kirsch
Panettone
100ml double cream, per serving
1/4 tsp icing sugar, per serving
1/2 tbsp natural yogurt, per serving
Chopped pistachios

METHOD
PREPARATION TIME : 15 minutes / 4-hour chilling time

Spoon about 6 cherries per serving in the bottom of your serving dishes.
Slice the panettone and tear pieces to cover the cherries, making sure to keep the crusts away from the edges for best visual effect.
Spoon enough of the Kirsch from the cherry jar over the trifle to just soak the panettone layer, and top with another 6 or so cherries. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.
Add the icing sugar to the double cream and whip until the cream is just a little looser than you’d want to top the trifle. Add the yogurt and carefully fold it into the cream with a metal spoon or spatula. Be careful not to over-mix it, because the yogurt will thicken the cream.
Spoon the cream over the top of the trifles and finish each with a scattering of chopped pistachios.