It’s National Grand Marnier Day, y’all! So what better way to celebrate it than with an Orange Trifle with Grand Marnier Cream! This dessert is so refreshing and is great a summer dessert that can even be made ahead of time.
Homemade Orange pound cake that is saturated with a Grand Marnier liqueur, layered with fresh oranges and an orange marmalade cream. A kick of orange flavor in each bite, leaves you wanting more! Personally, anything that is saturated in alcohol is amazing!
What is Grand Marnier Day?
National Grand Marnier Day on July 14th recognizes a liquor that brings citrus notes to cocktails and desserts. Since the 1880s, we’ve been enjoying the fruits of Grand Marnier’s exquisite flavor.
Alexander Marnier-Lapostolle invented the orange liquor in the 1880s. His grand experiment pairing fruit liquors with cognac took 10 years to find success. When it did, Lapostolle gave birth to one very expensive liquor. The cognac concoction blended one of the most costly fruits of the time with a very strong spirit, too. The result was truly grand. Not only does it add a splash of citrus when mixed into drinks and desserts, but Grand Marnier can be enjoyed neat.
Grand Marnier is used in a long list of desserts including liquor cream buns, Yule log, cranberry sauce, Crepes Suzette, and Grand Marnier souffle creme bruleé.
What is a trifle?
A trifle is an english dessert made with fruit, thin layer of sponge fingers soaked in sherry or another fortified wine, and custard.
I adapted my recipe to make the Orange trifle. Nonetheless, it turned out amazing! Two orange pound cakes were substituted for the lady fingers. The pound cake definitely soaked up the grand marnier mixture very well and the orange flavor was intensified!
The cream was made with Smucker’s Orange Marmalade, cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar. The texture was perfect and spread beautifully between each layer of the trifle.
Each orange was divided into segments and the membranes and pith were removed, creating very juicy oranges!
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter
- Granulated Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Oranges- freshly squeezed juice will come from them
- Orange zest
- Grand Marnier
- Cream Cheese: softened
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Orange marmalade: I used store bought, but homemade can be used as well
How to make Orange trifle?
Orange pound cake
- Cream butter and granulated sugar: with electric mixer beat together until light and fluffy.
- Eggs, vanilla and orange zest: add in the eggs, vanilla extract and orange zest until smooth.
- Fold in other ingredients: fold in flour, baking powder, orange juice and pinch of salt.
- Spread into bread pans: pour batter into bread pans and bake for 60 minutes or until the center is set. If you notice the edges are browning too fast, tent the pan with foil and continue baking.
Orange marmalade cream/ Grand Marnier mixture
- Make the whipped cream: In a stand mixer with whisk attachment beat heavy cream, vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Grand Marnier Mixture: Zest five oranges and put in bowl. Add in the Grand Marnier and fresh orange juice. Set aside. Cut out pith and membranes of oranges and set the slices aside. In a microwavable dish, place the 1/4 orange marmalade and 1 tbsp of Grand Marnier in a dish until it is hot (will be brushed on oranges on top of trifle)
- Cream Cheese mixture: With electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar together. Fold in the orange marmalade and whipped cream.
How do you assemble an orange trifle?
Assembling a trifle is easy and actually super fun! It is three layers and then you are done and ready to dig in!
First, layer one third of the pound cake on the bottom of the trifle bowl. Second, sprinkle with the Grand Marnier mixture, and layer the whipped cream on top. Then, place the oranges around the edge of the dish (widest part of the orange facing out against the wall). Repeat the process two more times until you have three layers.
Lastly, add the whipped cream on top. Place the leftover oranges on top in any design you fancy! Brush with a pastry brush the microwaved mixture mentioned above on top of the oranges. Put in the fridge from 2-8 hours to chill before serving.
See video below on how to assemble a trifle!
Orange trifle with grand marnier cream
Equipment
- Electric hand mixer
- Stand Mixer with whisk attachment
- Home Decor
- Measuring cups and spoons
- 2 9x5 bread pans
- One large trifle bowl
- spatula
- Serrated knife
- Razor-sharp grater
Ingredients
Orange pound cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter 1.5 sticks, softened to room temperature
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ½ cup orange juice freshly squeezed
Grand Marnier Cream
- 12 medium oranges
- ½ cup Grand Marnier plus 1 tbsp
- 12 oz cream cheese softened
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ¾ cup orange marmalade divided
Instructions
Orange pound cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two 9x5 bread pans and set aside.
- With an electric mixer, cream the butter and the granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and zest and mix until combined. Scrape the sides as necessary.
- Mix in the flour, baking powder, salt and orange juice until smooth.
- Spread the batter into prepared bread pans and bake for 60-65 minutes until center is set.
- If you notice the edges are browning too fast, tent the pan with aluminum foil and continue baking.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then remove and let completely cool until ready for assembly in the trifle.
Grand Marnier Cream
- In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, combine the cream cheese and heavy cream and mix until stiff peaks form. Add a ½ cup of orange marmalade and whisk to blend.
Assembly of the trifle
- Zest 5 oranges using a razor-sharp grater. Set aside. With a serrated knife, cut all the ends off the oranges. With a serrated knife, cuts ends off of all oranges. Set one orange cut side down on a cutting board.
- Following the curve of the fruit, cut off the peel and white pith. Working over a strainer set in a bowl, slice next to each thin white membrane into the center of the orange, releasing segments of orange into the strainer and leaving membranes behind.
- Squeeze juice from the membranes into strainer and discard them. Repeat with remaining oranges until you have 4 cups segments and a ½ cup of juice. Put in separate bowls.
- Add zest and ½ cup of liqueur to the bowl of juice and set aside.
- Arrange a third of the pound cake slices evenly in the bottom of the trifle bowl. Using a pastry brush, soak cake with ¼ cup of liqueur mixture.
- Dollop a third of the marmalade cream on top of the cake. Arrange 1 cup of orange segments over cream, making sure the widest parts of the segments lies against the sides of the bowl.
- Repeat with one more layer of cake, pressing down on it slightly before layering on the same amounts of liqueur mixture, cream and oranges.
- Arrange the last layer of cake, drizzle with remaining liqueur mixture, smooth remaining third of the cream level over the cake, and arrange remaining 2 cups oranges in your choice of design.
- In a microwavable safe bowl, heat remaining ¼ cup of marmalade with remaining 1 tbsp of liqueur until hot; stir to combine. Brush warm marmalade over orange slices. Chill until ready to serve!
Notes
- Can store for up to 3 days, loosely covered in the refrigerator. After 3 days, the pound cake will become soggy.
Nutrition
Other Recipes
Fun fact of the day!
Eating bananas can help fight depression! Nice!