Platinum Pudding

A Look Back at the Platinum Jubilee

We’ve been celebrating Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee for about four months now (and we’ve yet to do the one last thing on our list…plant a tree for the Jubilee!)…let’s take a look back at the fun we’ve had, starting with a special tea party on the date of her accession to the throne in February:

I found a fun craft that we did then, too:

The big events were just this past weekend. We went to a street party at The London Tea Room in St. Louis:

And I made a special, historic dinner to celebrate the historic event…coronation chicken:

For dessert, I made the lemon Swiss roll and amaretti trifle that was the winning entry in the Platinum Pudding Competition:

In some ways, although this event was more historic than 2012’s Diamond Jubilee, it felt more low-key. This was, of course, in part due to Her Majesty’s mobility issues causing her to miss many of the events…they just weren’t the same without her. And the absence of the Duke of Edinburgh was also keenly felt. But it was still a special celebration, with many touching and memorable moments (my favorites were the Paddington sketch, Prince Charles’ touching speech, the well-planned service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Cambridge children’s antics at the events, Mike Tindall wearing wife Zara’s hats, and Her Majesty’s balcony appearance following the pageant), and something I will always remember!

Tasty Tuesday–Platinum Pudding

I was intrigued when I head about the Platinum Pudding Competition in honor of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. And when I learned that the recipe for the lemon Swiss roll and amaretti trifle, created by a copywriter named Jemma from Southport, was available for anybody to try to replicate, I knew I was going to have to give it a try!

This was probably the most labor-intensive dessert I’ve ever made. First I baked a Swiss roll, which was filled with homemade lemon curd. That was sliced and placed on the bottom of a trifle bowl, and covered with homemade St. Clement’s jelly (the scariest part of the whole process for me!). That was topped with a homemade custard, followed by the one part of the recipe I took a shortcut on. The custard was supposed to have a layer of amaretti biscuits on top, but I had to make a nut-free version, so I used store-bought gingersnaps instead. A chunky mandarin coulis was next (I don’t think I made that quite right, but it still tasted good!), followed by whipped cream, more crushed gingersnaps, and a jewelled white chocolate bark, which I also made.

It was so much fun to be able to participate in the Platinum Jubilee this way, and the recipe was as delicious as it was beautiful!