Chocolate Trifle

The star of our Christmas dinner this year was the dessert, a chocolate trifle.  Apparently, I made this once before and Nick remembered it and requested it for Christmas.  I use to make trifles a lot, before I started this blog, but I don't have any recipes here from the past 10 years which is amazing because I still make them a lot.  A trifle is a British dessert that entails three layers of a cake layer, a moisture layer (fruit/liquor, etc.) a creamy layer (custard, pudding, or fruit) and usually topped with whipped cream.  I made one for dessert this summer when my brother was visiting from out-of-town and we had everyone over for dinner.  



This was a "mock trifle" without the cake layer since I was trying to stay on my Hannah Freese, RD diet.  You can use your imagination however you want to make one, really.  I like using my footed trifle bowl that I've been using for years and Nick has remember it, too. It makes for a very impressive presentation for a dessert and people will remember it.  Having one is a good investment and I've used mine a lot over the years. Like I said before, you can simply make-up your layers, whatever you like, which is what I usually do and what I did for Christmas, too.  When Nick requested a trifle for dessert this year, I started looking up recipes.  Turns out, all the chocolate trifle recipes used coffee liquor or strong coffee in the recipes.  I was making chocolate because the grandkids love chocolate but I didn't want to put liquor in it or coffee.  So, I made up my own recipe again and used simple chocolate sauce as the liquid to pour over the chocolate cake and layered with chocolate mousse and whipped cream.  Then we decorated it for Christmas... the grandkids LOVED it. We topped it with almond roca crumbs and candy canes. 

We make multiple batches of Bruce's almond roca during Christmas and after we break it up it leaves lots of crumbs that we put into a container and save. 

These are what we topped the Christmas trifle with along with a couple of candy canes - the perfect Christmas dessert.  

I realized after I made it that next time I will put in a layer of almond roca crumbs in this recipe if I make this for Christmas again. The added crunch of the almond roca crumbs made this recipe even more superb. My family would totally agree. I hope you all had as a Merry Christmas as we had and this dessert definitely added to our merriment.

Serves 6-8

Chocolate Cake

1-1/8 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup hot coffee

Chocolate Mousse

12 ounces semi sweet or milk chocolate

4 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. water

4 egg yolks

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. water

3 cups cold heavy cream

Chocolate Sauce

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 cup cold water

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups whipped cream

1 Tbsp. powdered sugar

1.  To make the chocolate sauce, in a cold saucepan, whisk together the cocoa and the sugar until all lumps are removed.  

2.   Add the salt and the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

3. Reduce to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly.  Simmer for about 30 seconds and then remove from heat.  Let cool and the add the vanilla.

4.  Pour into a glass jar and allow to cool.  The chocolate sauce will be very thin when it finishes boiling, but it will thicken quite a bit as it cools. 

Cake

1. To make the cake, heat oven to 350 degree F. Grease and flour a square 8 x 8 baking dish or one 8-inch cake pan.

2. Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. 

  3. Add eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed of mixer for two minutes.

4. Beat in hot coffee. 

5. Evenly spread the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake 25 - 30 minutes or until the cake no longer jiggles in the center. Remove and allow to cool 5 minutes.

6. Then poke the cake all over with a fork and evenly pour the chocolate sauce all over the cake.

7.  Cover the baking dish and place in the fridge.

The Chocolate Mousse

1.  In a small sauce pan, add the chocolate, butter and 2 Tbsp. water.  Heat on medium-low until melted and smooth.  Set aside to cool.

2.  In another pan, whisk together the egg yolks, 2 Tbsp. water and sugar.  Over medium heat, stir constantly until the sauce thickens slightly and just coats the back of the spoon, about 2-3 minutes.

3.  Stir the melted chocolate into egg mixture until it is completely smooth.  Place in the fridge while you whip the cream.

4.  Place 1-1/2 cups of the cream in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip cream until stiff peaks form. 

5.  Now add half the whipped cream to the cooled chocolate mixture.  

6.  Gently fold the cream into the chocolate until no more streaks remain.  Add the remaining cream and gently fold into the mousse.  Place in the fridge. 

7.  Now add the 2 cups of cream to a clean bowl and whip just as you did earlier.  Once whipped, add 1 Tbsp. powdered sugar and whip until combined.   You will now have four layers for your trifle; cake, chocolate syrup, chocolate mousse, and whipped cream.  

To Assemble

1.  Drizzle the bottom of the footed trifle bowl with some chocolate sauce, then crumble in a layer of the cake.   You will need to cut the cake in thirds since you will be doing this three times. 

2.  Drizzle that with another Tablespoon or so of chocolate sauce, then add a layer of mousse and a layer of whipped cream. 



3.  If this is for Christmas, this is where  you will sprinkle a layer of almond roca crumbs.

4.  Repeat the layers 2 more times finishing with a layer of whipped cream.  You don't have to crumble the cake completely when you do this layer.  You can leave it in chunks or wedges. 













5.  Top with chocolate curls or whatever decorations on top you like. Refrigerate 2 hours or until ready to serve.