You have to like your options!!

Let me just say that the last few batches of photos have been with my less than stellar camera and it has me very frustrated. Food is something that when you see it in a photo it should make your mouth start to water. You should immediately think, "Man I need to get me some of that!!" This dessert is one of the easiest desserts to make and can be a quick "throw together" kind of dessert with staples that you may have in your kitchen. Trifle is any dessert that is made with cake, whipped cream, some sort of custard/pudding, and an additional component. Many people like to use fruit in their more traditional trifles, but I like to use candy. Any excuse for me to incorporate things like peanut butter cups and I am all in. One thing that you will find when you make cakes is that sometimes they will not come out of the pan the way you would like them to, or you are left with lots of shavings/chunks. I take all of these pieces and freeze them for later use in my trifles. This particular trifle though I wanted to make a new cake recipe so I decided to use whole cake. I baked up a chocolate pound cake that I thought would be more apt to soak up some of the moisture from the pudding and whipped cream.



Once the cake was baked and cooled I whipped up some heavy whipping cream and made my chocolate pudding. The pudding was instant and came from a box. I have made homemade pudding before and just do not think that it is always worth the hassle. You have to pick and choose the things that you take shortcuts on. The whipped cream could definitely be substituted for Cool Whip, but I am a HUGE fan of regular whipped cream. It is quick and easy if you have a mixer and it tastes much better. Once the cake was cooled I placed my trifle vessel on top of the cake and pressed down slightly to leave indentations for cutting out the cake. You want to cut the cake so that it barely slides into the vessel you are using, as to not leave room for spill over when you layer. I also cut my cake in half so that I expose the inside of the cake. This is another way to increase moisture absorption. Then you simply layer. Cake, pudding, whipped cream, candy/fruit...repeat! The combinations for trifle are endless. For St. Patties Day you could make chocolate cake, mint pudding, and crushed Andes mints. For Christmas I have made a triple chocolate peppermint trifle that is out of this world. Fourth of July this year it was red velvet cake, white chocolate pudding, and blueberries. The versatility and ease of this dessert make it a must have in your culinary quiver!! Happy baking.