Flooded Lisbon Trifle
Based on:
TypeDessert
Serves4 people
DateNovember 11, 2026
Warm trifle with pears as fallen trees and ladyfingers as runway: Lisbon floods on your plate.
A warm Portuguese bread pudding trifle: biscuit and orange compote flow like waves over creamy custard. Caramelized pear halves stand upright as toppled trees, with a row of ladyfingers representing a closed runway. Comforting, warm, and a nod to the disrupted airport.
Ingredients
- 8 slices stale white bread
- 4 eggs
- 400 ml whole milk
- 100 ml whipping cream
- 100 g sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 pears
- 40 g butter
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 orange (zest and juice)
- 8 ladyfingers
- 200 g orange marmalade or compote
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Remove the crusts from the bread and cut into triangles.
- Whisk eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla into a custard.
- Grease a baking dish. Layer the bread, pour over the custard, and let soak for 10 minutes.
- Peel, halve, and core the pears. Melt butter in a pan, caramelize the pear halves with brown sugar for 3 minutes per side.
- Mix orange zest and juice into the marmalade.
- Bake the bread pudding for 25 minutes until golden and set.
- Let cool slightly. Spoon generous helpings of bread pudding into a wide dish, pour orange compote over as a 'flood'.
- Stand the pear halves upright on one side as toppled trees.
- Arrange a row of ladyfingers diagonally on the other side as a closed runway.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
Serving notes
- Serve warm, straight from the dish.
- Garnish with extra orange zest for freshness.
- Place the dish in the center of the table for comfort.