Ina Garten’s Raspberry Orange Trifle Is a Barefoot Contessa ‘Special Treat’ Dessert

Ina Garten has the perfect “special treat” dessert that looks elegant but is easy to pull together. The Barefoot Contessa star shared the steps for her delicious layered raspberry orange trifle.

Ina Garten makes a beautiful dessert for special occasions

Garten demonstrated how to make her raspberry orange trifle during an episode of Barefoot Contessa. “It’s layers of cake and cream and raspberry jam and fresh raspberries,” she explained. “It’s so good.”

Garten started by making the orange cream. She combined milk and orange zest in a saucepan over medium heat, brought it almost to a boil, then turned off the heat. In a stand mixer, she beat together room temperature egg yolks and sugar then added corn starch to the mixer. “This is like making a custard,” she explained.

The Food Network host carefully poured the hot milk into the egg yolks while the mixer ran at low speed. She returned the mixture to the pan and cooked the mixture until it thickened. Garten recommended watching it carefully. “If it cooks too much, you’re not going to end up with orange custard, you’ll end up with orange scrambled eggs,” she explained. “It’s not delicious.”

Garten stirred the mixture as it cooked, noting, “if it starts to thicken, I just get a whisk and just turn off the heat and just whisk it.”

She added vanilla, orange liqueur, butter, and heavy cream to the pot, then strained the mixture to ensure it was smooth. She covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. “And that’ll make sure that it stays really creamy,” she explained.

The ‘Barefoot Contessa’ star assembled the trifle

Garten also made an easy whipped cream. She combined heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla in a stand mixer and whipped it until it was firm.

To assemble the special dessert, Garten sliced pound cake and spread one side of each piece with raspberry jam. Then she placed a layer of the cake slices in the bottom of a serving bowl with the jam side up, drizzled on some of the orange cream, added fresh raspberries, and whipped cream. She repeated the layers, with the last layer of cake placed jam-side down and topped it with orange cream, raspberries, and a dollop of whipped cream.

“This is definitely not something you want to eat every day, but for a special treat, when you have guests coming to stay, it’s wonderful,” Garten noted. “It’s very casual.”

Ina Garten’s easy orange pound cake

Garten makes an easy and delicious pound cake to use in the trifle, though a store-bought shortcut works in a pinch. She creams butter and sugar in a mixer for 5 minutes, adds eggs and orange zest. In another bowl, she sifts together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, she combines orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. She alternates adding the flour and buttermilk mixtures to the mixer.

The Barefoot Contessa star pours the batter into two greased and floured loaf pans lined with parchment paper. She bakes the cakes in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

Garten combines sugar and orange juice in a saucepan. After the cakes bake, she allows them to cool for 10 minutes, then removes the cake from the pans and sets them on a rack placed on a sheet pan. She spoons the orange syrup over the cakes and allows them to cool.

The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.