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Weekend Dish: Chocolate trifle

By Catherine Toth Fox • May 29, 2011 • Food, Weekend Dish

I was at the dog park this week, chatting with my girlfriend who grew up in Oklahoma.

She mentioned she was craving a banana meringue pudding dessert popular in the south. It’s so easy to make, she said, it’s not that popular anymore.

That didn’t make sense at first — until I though about the trifle.

This centuries-old English dessert is exactly what my girlfriend was describing: it’s easy, it doesn’t require making anything, you don’t even have to turn on your oven or stove. Who wants to bring something like that to a potluck?

Me, actually.

The trifle — similar to the parfait — is a layered dessert, which traditionally calls for cubes of sponge or pound cake, often soaked in alcohol, fruits and vanilla custard. The taste is almost as important as the appearance, and this dessert even has its own trifle dish — glass and easy to marvel at.

No one makes trifle anymore, it seems. But it’s a go-to dessert for me, especially when I’ve got leftover cake and no room in my stomach to eat it.

So here’s my chocolate version of the English classic:

Leftover cake

Leftover cake
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The best thing about trifles is that you can basically use whatever you want — as long as the flavors taste good. I like to use leftover cake to make trifle — to create a whole 'nother dessert. In this case, I used a leftover chocolate ganache cake — frosting and all.

Chocolate trifle
slightly modified from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix (or leftover cake)
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup water
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (1.5 ounce) bar chocolate candy (or mini chocolate chips)

Directions:

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and cool completely. Cut into 1-inch squares. (You can also cut up any variety of cake, too.)

In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in 8 ounces whipped topping until no streaks remain.

In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish, place half of the brownies, half of the pudding mixture and half of the 12 ounce container of whipped topping. Repeat layers. Shave chocolate onto top layer for garnish. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

AllRecipes.comchocolate trifleeasy recipeleftover cake
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About the Author

Catherine Toth Fox

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9 Comments

  • Reply oldshoes May 29, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    Interesting. looks awesome. However,i know you’re a Seinfeld fan. So……when you say “leftover cake”, is this in the same ballpark as the ol’ re-gifting situation? just wondering. Sure looks darn good no matter how ya slice it.

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 30, 2011 at 3:48 pm

      LOL, nah, not like regifting. That was WAY too much cake for two of us! And we weren’t sharing with the dogs!

  • Reply Harry Covair May 29, 2011 at 11:37 pm

    Cool Whip is NOT Whipped Cream. Ewwww… have you looked at the ingredients in Cool Whip?

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 30, 2011 at 3:49 pm

      I know, I know. But I was lazy. It was good, though. I don’t mind Cool Whip. I can eat that with just a spoon. 🙂

  • Reply Makiki May 30, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    A dessert made using chocolate ganache cake as an INGREDIENT is beyond my level of comprehension. Just the thought of it caused me to gain a few pounds!

    oldshoes – I think the term “leftover cake” is similar to “extra money”.

    Alan

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 30, 2011 at 3:49 pm

      I couldn’t believe I even HAD leftover cake. Those things don’t usually last long in my ‘fridge!

  • Reply M May 31, 2011 at 7:35 am

    Where’s the ice cream?

  • Reply Jason June 1, 2011 at 4:15 pm

    MMMM trifle!!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx5Wpqf4-OM

  • Reply edw June 2, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    I have a friend in the Carolina’s who mixes up a glass of mint julep(Southern Comfort and crushed mint) and uses that to soak the sponge cake for her Triffle. With chocalate I like to use Grand Mariner or Triple sec (if budget doesn’t allow GM)

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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