Trifle may well be my favorite dessert to prepare for a crowd. A person is only limited by their imagination and the ingredients at their disposal. A trifle is basically a layered dessert, the components vary greatly, and the number of layers can be adjusted however you desire as well. But the best part is that no matter what you use, they always turn out incredibly delicious.
Anyone can make a trifle. You can use store bought cake, a prepared cake from a cake mix, or a scratch cake. As I talk about this spectacular trifle that I made for yesterday’s Easter celebration, I will share each component exactly as I made it. I’ve become very fond of trifles made 100% from scratch. Yes, it takes me all day to assemble a trifle, but I think it’s worth it. Don’t have the time? I’ll also share how one could cheat and use store bought ingredients to assemble a trifle that will be just as impressive as my scratch version.
The bare minimum required for a trifle is a cake/sponge layer, a liquid to soak that cake, and some kind of creamy layer. If you search for British style trifles (or puddings as they tend to be called), many of them use layers of sponge cake drizzled with different liquors and aperitifs. I’m sure those are delicious, but as I make trifles for family and church gatherings, grabbing the Grand Marnier to add a drizzle doesn’t seem to be the best choice. I have found that I really, really like pie fillings for that purpose. Store bought canned pie filling is usually bits of fruit suspended in a thick syrupy component- perfect for soaking into our cake and adding a layer of flavor- without turning the cake layer into a complete pile of mush. I’ve been making my own fillings using the sour cherries we picked ourselves, adding a bit of sugar and cornstarch and cooking until thickened.
Another layer I sometimes use is a layer of pastry cream. That is something I REALLY like to make myself- a nice homemade pudding, usually in plain vanilla or chocolate. But the truth of the matter is that my fancy pastry cream is not really all that different from a box of pudding mix prepared at home. And while the cook and serve pudding is slightly better than the instant-just-add-milk variety, it’s hard to beat the “ready in five minutes” aspect of the instant pudding. Go ahead and use it. I promise I won’t tell.
For my creamy layer, it’s hard to beat freshly made whipped cream. I use powdered sugar to sweeten my cream, so the cornstarch in the powdered sugar helps to stabilize the whipped cream. And while I’ve gotten away from using it completely, a large tub of Cool Whip will fill in just fine should you not desire to beat your own cream into fluffy submission.
Berries and fruit are always lovely additions to trifles. Andy’s favorite that I’ve made used store-bought lemon curd and fresh berries, added to a lovely yellow cake and vanilla pudding layer.
Now, about that cake layer. I always prefer my homemade scratch cakes for the cake layer of my trifles. However, I have also used cakey brownies and blondies, and since I have yet to make a scratch angel food cake, I have bought that to use in a summer berry trifle with no regrets. The non-baker can easily purchase an unfrosted cake layer and use that in a trifle. Cake mixes are great in this application as well, just be aware that you will want to use a bit less of the fillings, as cake mix cake is lighter and will turn to mush if you use too much liquid in the trifle.
Today’s trifle was born from a desire to make a cherry cheesecake for Easter. (Crazy as that may sound.) As I thought about that cheesecake, I started thinking about a delicious product that our family recently discovered- Cookie Butter.
This jar contains some of the most delicious stuff we’ve ever eaten. I can’t even really describe it properly, but it’s like the best cookie you’ve ever eaten, ground up into a paste that you can use just like peanut butter or Nutella. It is reminiscent of a cinnamon graham cracker, which was how I started thinking on it in conjunction with a cheesecake. Graham cracker crust had me thinking about cookie butter, and that’s when I started wondering if I could use this spread in a cake to capture that flavor. I searched and found a really amazing cake that I adapted a touch for my needs. Mostly, I only followed the cake part of the recipe, and nothing else, but then I tweaked the recipe for the cake just a touch as well. But look at this cake recipe– I’m sure that cake as a whole is absolutely delicious. If you wanted to go the cake mix route, I would use a spice cake mix, and add 1/2 teaspoon of extra cinnamon.
Biscoff Cookie Spread Cake
1 cup packed dark brown sugar 1/2 cup shortening or butter (I use organic palm shortening) 1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 cup Biscoff cookie spread 1 1/4 cups buttermilk 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon saltDirections:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease or line a 9×13 pan with shortening or non-stick foil. In a mixing bowl, beat together the brown sugar and shortening until fluffy and combined. Add the pudding mix. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then add the vanilla, cinnamon and cookie spread. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix together. Add half of the flour mixture to your sugar/shortening/egg mixture and beat well. Add all of the buttermilk, and carefully mix until well combined- scraping down the sides as needed. Add the remainder of the flour and mix until combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before removing from pan.
I made my cake in a 9×13 pan. Once my cake layer was completely cool, I used a knife to cut it up into 1-inch cubes. While it was cooling I prepared my homemade cherry pie filling. To make the quantity of trifle I have here, you’ll want three cans of cherry pie filling.
Quick Homemade Cherry Filling
4 cups frozen sour cherries, thawed with their liquid 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 cup waterPut the cherries and their liquid in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir until all the sugar is dissolved.
In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water and add to the cherries. Stir to incorporate, and then turn up the heat to medium-high. Cook and stir until the liquid around the cherries is nicely thickened. Remove from heat. Cool completely before using.
Next, I turned my attention to the whipped cream component of this trifle. I decided not to add a layer of pastry cream/pudding, but since I was still thinking about cheesecake, I pulled two blocks of cream cheese out of the fridge to soften. Once they were at room temperature, I beat them with a mixer until soft, and then added about 1/4 cup of real maple syrup and beat it again. My plan for this cream cheese mixture was to soften it up enough to fold into 2 1/2 cups of heavy cream that I’d already beaten up with 1 cup of powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla. My cheese was still a bit too firm, so I added more heavy cream in increments until I thought the cheese was loose enough. This took about half a cup. Milk would work just fine here, but I had the quart of cream to use up, so thought I might as well go for it. Then I carefully folded the cream cheese into the whipped cream until it was nicely combined and I had a delicious bowl of cheesecake cream.
If you wanted to cheat on a cheesecake layer, you can actually buy Philadelphia brand ready-to-eat cheesecake filling. If you use that, I would stir that up with a spoon to soften and loosen it before folding into some whipped cream. Or Cool Whip- this is where you would want to use the Cool Whip if that is your preferred product.
Now I had everything ready except for the last cup of heavy cream. I beat that up with a few tablespoons of powdered sugar for the very top layer of the trifle.
Into the bottom of my bowl I piled a layer of the cake cubes, followed by a layer of cherry filling. On top of the cherries went half of my cheesecake whipped cream. Then I repeated. Another layer of cake cubes, followed by cherries and the rest of the cheesecake cream. Then came the final layer of cake cubes, the last bit of cherry filling, followed by the plain sweetened whipped cream. For the decoration on top (and a hint to the flavors inside), I crushed up a handful of Biscoff cookies and scattered that on the top.
Oh. My. Word. This trifle was delicious. It was the perfect balance of tart and sweet. I made it a day ahead of time and the layers melded together perfectly and every bite was absolute perfection. Whether you make it completely from scratch as I did, or follow the directions for a quick cheater’s version, I promise it will be completely delicious and will wow every guest at your dinner table.