In a pan, gently heat cranberries, sugar, orange zest and juice with 2tbsp water for about 5min until the berries are softened. Stir in wine, if using. Leave to cool to room temperature. Heat an empty frying pan over a medium heat. Add nuts and toast until lightly coloured, but keep stirring and watching them as they burn easily. Tip into a bowl to cool.
Step 2
Line the base of a 1.8 litre (3¼ pint) glass bowl with the trifle sponges, cutting them to fit if you need to. Spoon over the cooled cranberry mixture. Stir three-quarters of the nuts into the custard, setting aside the rest for decoration. Spoon custard on to cranberry layer.
Step 3
Whip cream and icing sugar until it just holds soft peaks - it's vital not to whip it too much as the cream will turn buttery. Spread on top of custard. Cover and chill for at least 30min to let the flavours mingle.
Step 4
To serve, grate chocolate directly on to the cream and sprinkle with remaining nuts.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
