Triflin'

One of my good friends had a birthday last week and her housemate is out of town for work this week so she invited me over for dinner. I wanted to make her a little bit of cake for dessert so I whipped up this trifle. I'm sure there's a recipe out there similar to it, but I didn't use one other than the recipe for the cake (which I altered slightly). 

Chocolate Chip Whipped Trifle

Ingredients:

3c whipped cream (or one 8oz container of Cool Whip)

1 large (5.1oz) box of Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding

2.5 c milk

Chocolate chip cake (recipe to follow)

Chocolate Chip Cake:

1/2c cocoa powder

1c boiling water

1 1/3c all purpose flour

2tsp baking powder

1/4tsp salt

1/2c unsalted butter (room temp)

1c sugar

2 large eggs

2tsp pure vanilla extract

1c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter or grease your cake pan (I used my Pampered Chef Rectangular Baker but any 13x9 pan will do).

In a small bowl stir boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla and add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated (I did this in 1/4c increments). Add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth. Add in chocolate chips. 

Pour into baking pan and bake for about 15-20 minutes (checking often). It's done when you can insert and remove a toothpick cleanly.

When the cake is done and completely cooled, cut it up into 1x1 inch cubes (or thereabouts - doesn't have to be exact). 

Prepare pudding with the 2.5c milk (use less milk so it's thicker). Combine 1/2 of the pudding with 1/2 of the whipped cream and place a layer of cubed cake on the bottom of your bowl, top with the pudding/whipped cream mixture, place another layer of cake, top with remaining pudding, place another layer of cake, and top with remaining whipped cream.

Chill & enjoy!

Trifles are one of my favorite desserts, probably because it originated in the UK. :)