Trifle

Same disclaimer as always: amounts are inexact, and I never make these the same way twice. Use as guideline and with caution. I made Chocolate Trifle #2 for an office party today, it turned out pretty well.

TRIFLE BASICS:
Ingredients
  - Cake
  - Pudding (I always use instant, it's easier)
  - Something(s) with a complementary flavor to your cake and pudding types. Call this ingredient1
  - Whipped Cream (I prefer homemade, I'll do a different blogpost for that)

Instructions
  - Bake the cake, or buy the cake pre-made if you're running out of time. Let it cool.
  - Get all of your ingredient1 ready  - chopped, crumbled, whatever it needs to make it ready to go
  - Get the pudding ready. If you're using instant pudding, mix it up so it's homogenous, but not so much that it sets
  - Layer as follows: Cake, pudding, ingredient1, cake, pudding, ingredient1, optional: whipped cream, cake, pudding, ingredient1, whipped cream  - Decorate the top
  - Refrigerate, serve cold.

Notes:
  - Trifle is best the second day, when the pudding has time to soak into the cake properly.
  - Consistency is important. Be careful that your extra ingredients don't change the consistency too much.
  - If you include a layer of whipped cream in the middle, make sure that your whipped cream is on the stiffer side of the cream <--> butter spectrum. It is a higher priority to make sure you have enough for the top than to put a layer in the middle.
 - I only put in a layer of whipped cream if I'm using a dish that has clear sides. In that case I will often double or triple the amount of pudding, as well, to make sure I'm getting clear striations.







Chocolate Trifle 1
 - Chocolate cake
 - Instant butterscotch pudding
 - Chocolate chips
 - Vanilla whipped cream


Chocolate Trifle 2
 - Triple chocolate fudge cake
 - Instant chocolate pudding
 - Layer one: crumbled Heath bar
 - Layer two: Peanut butter chips and accidentally-melted chocolate chips
 - Layer three: Peanut butter chips and crumbled Heath bar
 - Decorations: Raspberries
NOTES: Don't accidentally melt the chocolate chips. They form into a solid block of chocolate and completely ruin the consistency, and make it hard to eat with a spoon. Also, I'm not sure I liked the juxtaposition of the raspberries with the toffee and peanut butter. I would probably make it either/or next time. Also, when I made this I ran out of milk and had to make the pudding with a cream/water mixture that came out to about the right consistency, maybe 1/4 cream 3/4 water. I didn't notice a difference in final taste of the trifle.


Coffee Trifle
 - Coffee angel food cake (when making the cake, use coffee instead of water. Instant coffee works well for this, and you can tune it to how strong you want the coffee flavor).
 - Instant chocolate pudding
 - Raspberries/bananas/strawberries
 - Coffee whipped cream
NOTES: This one went over really well. Medium strength coffee flavor in the cake, medium-light coffee flavor in the whipped cream. I made the whipped cream sweeter than usual to offset the coffee flavor. I like the bananas VERY ripe so that they're almost mushy.



Fruit Trifle
 - Yellow cake
 - Vanilla pudding
 - Strawberries/Blueberries/Raspberries/Bananas, sometimes mango and peach as well
 - Vanilla whipped cream
NOTES: My favorite