Dirt Cake Trifles
These adorable dirt cake trifles are a variation of one large trifle that always showed up at holidays. Since then, Iβve added salted caramel and opted to make the pudding and whipped cream from scratch. The beginning part of this recipe goes over making the pudding itself. If youβre on the fence about whether or not to take the extra time, just do it! The flavor is SO much more chocolatey and intense.
I love love love the original trifle recipe, which basically omits the caramel and is assembled in a big bowl. But I donβt love having that gigantic bowl sitting in the fridge, tempting me whenever I go to get something. The half pint jars are the perfect size for these trifles. Itβs just enough, and you get every layer in the perfect proportion.
And it goes without saying that these are great to have on hand at a cookout or gathering. No big messy bowls and big serving spoons. Just jars that go right from the fridge to the person to the dishwasher.
Chocolate Pudding
Iβve always used a box pudding mix to make these trifles, but wanted something with a little more this time. I mean, the cake, caramel and whipped cream are all from scratch, so why not the pudding, too? After playing with the ingredients and proportions from both my vanilla pastry cream and chocolate custard ice cream, Iβm beyond thrilled with the result.
This chocolate pudding is made with brown sugar, not granulated, and has a bit of espresso powder to really bring out the chocolate. In addition to my go-to cocoa powder, I used a small amount of black cocoa. When used sparingly, black cocoa lends a deeper, more rich chocolate flavor. Itβs also in the cake that weβre using for these dirt cake trifles!
Chocolate cake
You need roughly 6-7 cups of cold, crumbled cake. This cake pop recipe makes the perfect amount.
Each half pint jar gets 1/2 cup of cake, which then gets lightly packed down. It should fill up about 1/3 of the total jar space. Drizzle the cake with 1 teaspoon of Kahlua, or any other coffee liqueur you have on hand. The coffee flavor is what weβre after.
Salted Caramel
This works with everything else SO WELL. The cake, pudding, crushed Heath, and whipped cream are all sweet, so the salt from the caramel sauce is welcome. Make it yourself or grab a jar.
Whatβs also cool is that if youβve made it from scratch, the caramel will form a kind of soft βmagic shellβ on top of the cake that you have to dig into a little to get to the cake. The chewiness is amazing!
Whipped Cream
Just like the caramel sauce, you can make the whipped cream yourself, which I highly recommend. Cool Whip works just as well, but I like being able to control the sweetness and flavoring.
If you are making it from scratch, donβt make it until you need it. As in, wait to whip it until the pudding has been layered into each jar. As soon as itβs whipped, then you can layer it onto the pudding right away.
Storage & Shelf Life
After assembling these dirt cake trifles, let them sit in the fridge for at least a couple hours before serving. It allows the Kahlua to really soak into the cake and for the flavors to meld together and get better.
Keep any extra trifles sealed and in the fridge for up to a week.
Dirt Cake Trifles
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Assembling Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour + 5 minutes
- Yield: 12 half pint trifles 1x
- Category: Dessert, Layered
- Method: No Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
These trifles are layered and stacked with ALL the good stuff.
Ingredients
For the chocolate pudding:
- 2 cups whole milk, divided
- 1 TB + 1 tsp cornstarch
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 TB black cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 oz dark chocolate, melted
- 1 TB unsalted butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
To assemble the trifles:
- 6 cups chocolate cake, cold and crumbled (use this recipe, you wonβt have any leftover cake!)
- 1/4 cup Kahlua liqueur
- 3/4 cup β 1 1/4 cups salted caramel sauce (depending on portions, you may use as little as 3/4 cup or the entire homemade recipe, which is the full 1 1/4 cups)
- 3 full size (1.4 oz) Heath candy bars, finely chopped or crushed
- 1 recipe homemade chocolate pudding, as prepared in this post. (If using instant pudding, use a 3.9 oz box, prepared according to the instructions on the packaging)
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, very cold
- 1/4 cup + 2 TB powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the chocolate pudding:
- In a medium heatproof mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the whole milk, cornstarch, egg yolks, salt and espresso powder. Whisk until combined and smooth, and set aside.
- Sift both of the cocoas into a saucepan or saucier, and stir in the brown sugar. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups whole milk and whisk until smooth.
- Place the cocoa/sugar/milk mixture over medium high heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture simmers. Slowly stream the hot chocolate mixture into the egg/cornstarch bowl, whisking quickly and constantly to temper the eggs.
- Once all of the chocolate mixture has been added to the eggs and incorporated, add everything back into the saucepan. Whisk constantly and cook over medium heat until thickened and bubbling, about 7-8 minutes.
- Once the pudding is bubbling, continue to whisk for an additional minute before removing from the heat.
- After the pudding is off the heat, stir in the melted chocolate, butter and vanilla extract until smooth. Strain the hot pudding through a fine mesh sieve and onto a large plate or shallow dish. Spread the pudding over the surface of the dish to create a thin layer, and then press a sheet of plastic wrap on top of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming.
- Refrigerate the pudding for at least 2-3 hours, or until completely chilled.
To assemble the trifles:
- Scoop 1/2 cup of the crumbled chocolate cake into each half pint jar, and pack down gently with the back of a cereal spoon.
- Drizzle 1 teaspoon of Kahlua over the packed cake.
- Spread 1 TB salted caramel sauce over the soaked cake.
- Sprinkle 1/2 TB crushed Heath bar over the caramel layer.
- Spoon 2 TB of chocolate pudding over the crushed Heath bar.
- Make the whipped cream just before you need it. In a chilled mixing bowl, whip the cold heavy cream on high speed until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, and continue to whip until very stiff peaks form. You should have roughly 1 1/2 cups of finished whipped cream.
- Spread 2 TB of the whipped cream on top of the chocolate pudding, and finish each trifle with another 1/2 TB of crushed Heath bar.
- Seal the jars and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld together.
- Trifles will keep for up to a week when sealed and under refrigeration.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 half pint trifle
- Calories: 438
- Sugar: 30.5 g
- Sodium: 440.8 mg
- Fat: 17.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 8.8 g
- Trans Fat: 0.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 65.9 g
- Fiber: 1.4 g
- Protein: 5.2 g
- Cholesterol: 55.1 mg
