Red Velvet Trifle

Happy New Year!  For last night's New Year celebration, I decided on a trifle.  Trifles are usually my go-to dessert.  They're very easy to make, and always light and delicious.  Some of the earliest trifles were usually made of various layers of cakes soaked in flavored gelatin, fruit, firm custard, and whipped cream.  My trifles are different since I don't care for gelatin much.  They are usually just layers of cake, pudding, fruit, and whipped cream.

 

This time, I decided to make a chocolate trifle.  The layers were boxed red velvet cake, instant Jell-O chocolate fudge pudding, crushed Heath bar (milk chocolate coated English toffee), and whipped topping.  You must think it absurd that I cheated for this dessert, but that's why it is so easy!  If you'd like to make everything from scratch, you could.  I, however, still think that whipped topping holds better than homemade whipped cream.  It deflates after a couple hours, where whipped topping will last for days.  If you are planning on serving this immediately after it's made, then I say go ahead with the homemade (I confess it does taste much better, and is probably better for you considering whipped topping is made of oil).  If using whipped topping, be sure to purchase it at least 5 hours ahead of assembling.  Frozen whipped topping is a pain to work with, and you can't just whip it up to defrost it.  It must sit in the refrigerator for 5 hours to defrost correctly.  There is no other way.  Leaving it out on the counter will deflate it and cause it to turn back into cream.  Good luck!

RED VELVET TRIFLE

ingredients:
1 boxed red velvet cake mix (or milk chocolate cake mix dyed with red food gel)
4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1 box Jell-O instant chocolate fudge pudding
2 cups half-and-half
3 Heath candy bars (crushed)
1 container whipped topping (do not get canned whipped cream, it will deflate immediately)

method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, milk, and butter in a large bowl and whisk until blended.  You may use a hand mixer if you'd like, but whisking is not too hard, and cleanup is a cinch.  Pour into a greased 9" round cake pan (or 9x13), and bake for 35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before assembling.  Combine pudding and half-and-half in a bowl, and whisk until it starts to thicken.  Place in the refrigerator to firm up, until ready to assemble.

For homemade whipped cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Beat cream and vanilla with a stand or hand mixer until soft peaks form.  Sprinkle sugar over the top and beat again until fluffy.  Do not overbeat, or your cream will turn into butter.

 
To assemble, cut cake to fit in serving bowl.  I used a clear pyrex bowl, so I ended up cutting out a smaller circle.  The bowl was quite shallow as well, so one round was enough for the entire trifle.  Use the rest of the cake for another trifle.  If you don't mind having chunks of cake instead of layers, just tear the cake up.  Now start layering the rest of your ingredients.

 

I started with the cake, topped it with half the chocolate pudding, then a layer of whipped topping, sprinkled on half of the crushed Heath bar, another layer of cake, the rest of the pudding, the rest of the Heath bar (reserved a few crumbs for the top), then the rest of the whipped topping.  For the topping, I sprinkled the rest of the Heath bar in the middle.  I then set my trifle in the sink, and sprinkled red velvet cake crumbs on the sides.  It was simple to lift the trifle out and wash the excess crumbs down the drain.  Refrigerate to allow cake to become the same temperature as the pudding and cream, and serve.  This was a hit at the New Year's party!