Chocolate Trifle is one of my go- to dessert when it comes to choosing a sweet dish for a crowd specially if that party has children. It is a crowd pleaser, kid friendly and a great make-ahead dessert, which can even be made with leftover chocolate cake. This Chocolate Trifle is a complete, made from scratch recipe with layers of moist chocolate cake, egg-less silky pudding custard and cloud like whipped cream.
Recipe at a Glance
Chocolate Cake
Eggs- 4, large, room temperature
Oil– Any neutral oil like canola, corn
Sugar – regular granulated sugar
Cocoa powder– Any good quality brand
Vanilla– Essence or extract
Flour– All-purpose
Baking powder– Always check for expiry
Milk – full fat
Chocolate Custard
Corn flour – for the thickness of custard
Sugar – granulated
Cocoa powder– Any good quality brand
Milk – full fat
Chocolate– Semi-sweet or dark, if you are using milk, try reducing sugar by a couple of tablespoons
Butter– Softened, at room temperature
Assembly
Whipping cream – softly whipped cream with little sugar, check out detailed recipe on whipped cream here.
Chocolate Accents- Optional
Strawberry or pineapples- Or any other fruit of choice
Simple sugar/ juice/ jam – for moistening the cake layers
Step by Step Process
Chocolate Cake
- Beat eggs, oil, sugar & vanilla until well mixed.
- Sift all dry ingredients, add to the wet mixture and beat on lowest speed.
- Add milk and beat until just combined.
- Bake in a greased & floured pan for 20 minutes at 325F.
Chocolate Custard
- In a pan, whisk together corn flour, sugar, cocoa powder and milk until the mixture is thickened.
- Remove from heat and add butter & chocolate.
Assembly
- In serving dish, make bottom layer with pieces of chocolate cake, moistened with syrup, juice or jam.
- Put fruits on top, followed by chocolate custard and refrigerate for a few hours.
- Decorate with whipped cream and chocolate accents, melted chocolate drizzle or cocoa powder dust.
FAQs
Serving Suggestions
You can assemble this super easy dessert in a big trifle dish or as individual servings. Either way, it is great for dinner parties as it yields generous servings.
Substitutions & Variations
This is a versatile recipe where you can swap ingredients easily. For example:
- the chocolate cake layer at the bottom can be replaced with crushed/ whole biscuits or any other sponge flavor
- any fruit of choice can be used in place of strawberry/ pineapple or skipped altogether
- the top layer, instead of chocolate accents, you can use chocolate chips, melted chocolate drizzle or even dust of cocoa powder
- chopped nuts can also be added in between the layers for that added crunch
Storage & Make Ahead
The assembled chocolate trifle can be refrigerated covered for up to 2 days.
To make assembly easy, chocolate can be made in advance and frozen for up to a week, well wrapped twice after taking it out from the pan and cooled.
Chocolate custard which is one pot recipe, should ideally be prepared same day or a day before as serving and so is the whipped cream.
Chocolate Trifle
Learn how to make this impressive dessert Chocolate Trifle that feeds a crowd
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup oil
- 1 1⁄3 cup sugar
- 6 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 2 1⁄3 cup flour
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup milk
Chocolate Custard
- 4 tablespoons corn flour
- 1⁄2 cup sugar
- 1⁄2 cup cocoa powder
- 4 cups milk
- 6 ounces semisweet/ dark chocolate (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons butter
Assembling
- 1 ½ cups whipping cream
- 3-4 tablespoon Icing Sugar/granulated sugar
- Chocolate accents
- Pineapples or strawberries, as required
- Simple sugar syrup, juice or jam, as required
Instructions
For the Cake
- Beat eggs well until light and fluffy.
- Add oil while beating continuously.
- Add in sugar & vanilla essence and beat.
- Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
- Mix in with the beater at the lowest speed.
- Add in milk and beat until just combined.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 325 F for 20 minutes in a 9x13 inches square greased & floured pan.
- While it's baking and cooling, prepare the custard.
For the Custard
- In a deep cooking pot, mix everything with a whisk, except chocolate and butter.
- Cook on low heat while whisking continuously until it boils and thickens.
- Remove from heat.
- Add butter and chocolate.
- Pour in a large measuring cup.
- Cover with a cling film so that it touches the surface of the custard to avoid thin film from forming on top.
Assembling
- Whip the cold cream with a couple of tablespoons of sugar till soft peaks are formed.
- Get your serving dish or cups ready.
- Cut cake into pieces as suitable for the serving dish.
- You can moisten the cake with either sugar syrup, juice or even jam.
- Layer cut up fruits and distribute evenly.
- Pour custard on top, equally and evenly.
- Let it sit for at least a couple of hours in the refrigerator.
- Pipe swirls of whipped cream or just put dollops with a spoon.
- Add chocolate accents or dust with cocoa powder.
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