Day 1:  

Drain the can of fruit cocktail for at least one hour & keep the juice to use with mixing the jelly powders.  Pour drained fruit cocktail into the serving bowl.

Cube the cake and add into the serving bowl.  Stir the cake & fruit cocktail to distribute the two.  You can now sprinkle the sherry over the cake.

Mix the two packages of jelly powders as per instruction on the packages using the drained fruit cocktail juice to replace most of the cold water required.  (Normally you will get 1 ½ cup of juice from a can.)  If you want, you can drain the mandarin oranges & use that juice to make up the ½ cup required remembering that the orange segments will not be required until the last day. (It is better to mix the jelly powders in a plastic bowl rather than china or ceramic bowl so that the heat is not lost.)

After thoroughly mixing the jelly powders, pour it over the cake and fruit cocktail mix.  Then place the bowl into the refrigerator for 24 hours. 

Day 2:

Mix the vanilla instant puddings each separately as per instructions on the packages.  From the fridge remove the bowl with the jelly and cake mix and add the instant puddings, one at a time.  You mix each pudding separately to ensure proper amount of time for mixing.  Place the serving bowl with the trifle back into the fridge for another 24 hours.

Day 3: 

Select & drain the cherries used for decoration. You can do this by placing the cherries on a paper towel to soak up the liquid residue. If you have not already drained the mandarin orange segments, then drain them now while you are whipping the cream.  Place the segments on a paper towel after draining to absorb any excess liquid.

Mix the whipping cream using a dash of sugar to stiffen the cream.  When cream forms into peaks then add it to the trifle as the last layer. 

Cut up the cherries for part of the decoration.  Place the mandarin orange segments & cherries in a design.  Refrigerate until required for serving.  

Note:    It is best either to use a large clear glass or plastic serving bowl.  Trifle is not difficult to make just time consuming in regards to letting each layer to set.  Even though you use instant pudding, do leave the trifle to set for 24 hours for best results otherwise, the layers will turn out runny & you do not achieve a good result either in the presentation or in the taste.  Allowing the time for the ingredients to mature is the key to a good trifle.  With whipping cream, it is best to use china or ceramic but not a plastic bowl.  Chill this bowl for 24 hours.  Whipping the cream in a chilled bowl gives better results than in a room-temperature bowl.