I have always loved a good trifle. It seems that my favorite part is how all of the pieces fit together. The trifle is essentially one giant mess consisting of layers of goodness that have been strategically placed in order to see the beauty of its preparation from a see-through serving dish. Nothing else does that. Nowhere else do you find a person wanting to throw together random ingredients, show you from the outside how they have been thrown together, and then hand you a spoon so you can scoop through all of the layers and dump them into a bowl for consumption. This happens with no other dessert. Sure, layered desserts are around, but these have boundaries. They have distinct lines of perfection. They come with the chocolate fudge layer evil-eyeing the chocolate mousse layer while it's on its way in for a landing. Then, the chocolate mousse layer holds tight while the clouds of white from the whipped cream fall delicately on top. The mousse holds its breath, desperately awaiting the moment of victory where all of the lines perfectly match in width. You see where I'm going with this, right?? Trifles are adventurous, as well as beautiful, even with all of their imperfections. (And I haven't even started talking about how delicious they taste.)
This trifle was created from a recipe off of The Urban Poser's blog site. I had already created their strawberry shortcake the previous weekend. That recipe uses the same cake base as the trifle. After trying the shortcake, I knew I couldn't go wrong making the trifle. I did not make too many changes to it, but I knew I wanted a big trifle and not just the individual serving dishes. In order to do this, you have to make two pound cakes. These can be cooked at the same time (took only 30 minutes in my oven), but you cannot just double the batter and divide. When preparing the cakes, have out 6 bowls (2 big, 2 med, 2 small). As you measure your ingredients, place one set of wet ingredients into each of the big bowls. Then add one set of dry ingredients into each of the medium bowls. The small bowls are for each set of your egg whites. I know this sounds confusing, but it is not hard, and with this preparation, you will have both cakes ready faster. After the cakes are baked, let them cool completely, and then place them in the fridge. About an hour before you need it (or sooner if you want), wash your berries (in this case, I used strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries). One note on the fruit. I understand that sometimes it is too expensive to buy organic produce all of the time, but I do not buy conventional berries. Berries are ranked as being some of the most pesticide-sprayed fruits out there (and since you do not peel these fruits, that takes on an even higher risk). After I buy the organic berries, I still wash them with this. Do what you want, but I just wanted to put that information out there. It also helps to buy produce in season. For example, organic strawberries out of season are around $7.00/carton. Organic strawberries in season (now) are only $2.89/carton. That is not too far off from their conventional counterparts. The same goes for the rest of the berries (and other produce for that matter). Sorry..back to the trifle...
After washing the berries, cut the two pound cakes into cubes. Then, open up your coconut milk cans and scoop the creamy parts into a bowl (this will take around 4 cans for the larger trifle). Using a mixer, whip the cream. After it begins to thicken, add in a few teaspoons of honey. Continue to whip for a few more minutes until the cream is the consistency of traditional dairy whipped cream. From this point, grab your see-through bowl and get to work! The layering is the funnest part. This is where you get to decide what will be seen from the outside. Make sure to beautify the edges and the top just-so! ;)
Then, pop it in the fridge.
So, your work is done. Now what??? Well, you could take an over-abundance of photos as I did, or you could just grab a spoon and dig in. But, should you share it??? Well, that completely depends on how well your mom taught you to share. In our case, we were planning a small get-together with just desserts and drinks at our home. We were saying goodbye to our friend who was moving away the next morning to NYC. It just so happens that his girlfriend (from NYC) flew into town so that she could accompany him on his drive up. So, in this case, we got to meet her and become friends too. There were a few leftovers, but those will be taken care of soon. (Or in a few minutes...or later...or maybe I'm currently eating them as I type...I'll never tell.)
One last thing to mention...I had about a quarter of one of the cakes left. Instead of wasting it or leaving it in the fridge for too long, I turned it into gifts. It is teacher appreciation week here, so I bought two clear coffee mugs, made new cream, and recreated the desserts in the mugs with the rest of the cake and the little bit of fruit that I still had. These will be given tomorrow (complete with a homemade tag and an ingredient list...I know, I know....gag you, right??). I'm just happy to share (my mom taught me well) and, I feel it is a thoughtful gift.
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