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Banana, brandy and butterscotch trifle

At a pinch you could buy a sponge for this trifle, but then you'd miss the warm caramel flavour of the brown sugar sponge in the mix - and nothing beats a homemade sponge. Assemble the trifle while the sauce is still warm so it mingles with the cream.
From: gourmettraveller.com.au SERVES 6-8

5 bananas, thickly sliced
For drizzling: brandy
To serve: salted roast peanuts (optional)
Brown sugar sponge
4 eggs, at room temperature
80 gm each brown sugar and raw caster sugar
100 gm (1/3 cup) plain flour
50 gm butter, melted and cooled
¼ tsp baking powder
Brandy crème fraîche
750 gm crème fraîche
40 gm brown sugar
40 ml brandy
Scraped seeds of 2 vanilla beans
Butterscotch sauce
320 gm brown sugar
300 ml pouring cream
80 gm butter, coarsely chopped
40 gm golden syrup
40 ml brandy

For brown sugar sponge, preheat oven to 180C. Whisk eggs and sugars in an electric mixer until thick and tripled in volume (5-6 minutes). Sieve over half the flour, fold to combine, fold in melted butter, then sieve in remaining flour and baking powder. Spoon into a deep 20cm square cake tin buttered and lined with baking paper and bake until golden and centre springs back when pressed lightly (20-25 minutes). Cool in tin, then store in an airtight container until required.

For brandy crème fraîche, whisk ingredients in an electric mixer to soft peaks (2-3 minutes), then refrigerate until required.

For butterscotch sauce, stir ingredients in a saucepan until sugar dissolves, bring to the boil and cook until thick and syrupy (5-10 minutes). Add a pinch of salt and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

To serve, coarsely tear cake into rough pieces, then layer ingredients in a large serving bowl. Start with brandy crème fraîche, scatter with some sliced banana, drizzle with butterscotch sauce, scatter over a layer of torn cake, drizzle cake with a little brandy and butterscotch sauce and continue layering until you’ve used all the cake. Finish with peaks of brandy crème fraîche, scatter with sliced banana and drizzle with more warm butterscotch sauce. Serve with extra warm butterscotch sauce and salted peanuts.

Note When you're making caramel, stir water and sugar over heat until sugar dissolves, then let mixture boil without stirring but swirling the pan so the caramel cooks and colours evenly, brushing down the sides with a pastry brush to remove sugar crystals.