Hi Wendy:-) How about an English Trifle? It's a wonderful dessert that serves many people. This recipe comes from a friend of mine who is from South Africa but who spent time in London while her husband was doing post doctoral work. When she served it to us, I had to have the recipe! It's delicious!! It takes time to make because there are several different components but none of the components are very difficult to make. In fact, most of the components are store bought. Authentic trifles usually call for some form of alcohol, as this one does, but if you want something without, you can do a search for trifles here at recipelink by typing the word "trifle" in the "Find a recipe" box.

Trifles are usually served in a clear trifle bowl which shows off the different layers of the trifle but if you don't have one, just a fairly deep (at least 5-inches deep) bowl, preferably with straight sides will work.

Also, I have to apologize for the lack of amounts of things but this is how I received the recipe so the times I have made it, I just tried to have plenty of everything so I wouldn't run out before I finished layering the trifle.

ENGLISH TRIFLE

1 store bought sponge or (Sara Lee)pound cake cut into approximately 1-inch cubes
Sherry, such as Gallo Cream Sherry
Custard made with Bird's English Custard Powder*
1 box orange or strawberry jello, prepared and chilled, then crumbled with a fork.
Strawberry preserves
Nuts, toasted and chopped (My personal preference is toasted pecans.)
Maraschino cherries
Heavy cream, whipped
Fresh strawberries for garnish

Dip pieces of sponge or pound cake in sherry. Layer at the bottom of your bowl. Spoon custard, jello, a few teaspooms of preserves, nuts and a few cherries or fresh strawberries over cake. Repeat the layers starting again with the cake.

Decorate the top with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, or serve the whipped cream on the side.

*If you can't find Bird's English Custard Powder, the preferred thing would be to make your own custard from scratch or, you can substitute vanilla pudding. I do have to say that Bird's is far superior to our pudding mixes in this country so if you can find it, use it.