I almost skipped writing this blog entry this week. My comfort food recipes are like children to me: how can I choose my favorite?? Especially since each one serves to comfort in a different way, for different emotional needs??
There was really only one way to do it and that was to throw a mental dart at the ones that people request I make the most. I narrowed it down to three, then threw that dart. This is the absolute fav: CHOCOLATE TRIFLE.
I find it very TELLING that my favorite comfort food is a dessert. But that’s a topic for another blog, so…..
Looks good, doesn’t it? It is, trust me.
So here’s the easy recipe:
You’ll need: chocolate cake, 2 tubs of Cool Whip, instant chocolate pudding and a Cadbury Chocolate/Orange ball ( Or a Hershey’s chocolate bar – your choice)
For the cake you will need:
- 2 cups granulated sugar, sifted
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, sifted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup cold regular milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
To make the cake:
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Then grease and flour 2 9 inch round baking tins
- After sifting the dry ingredients mix the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder and the salt into a mixer.
- Add in the eggs one at a time, then the milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
- This is a weird step, but once the ingredients are mixed, slowly mix in the boiling water. The batter will become very thin. This is okay.
- Halve the mixture and pour each half into the 2 baking rounds. Then, bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and flakey.
- Let the cake cook completely for about 3-4 hours. Then, slice the cake in half, length-wise to form 2 identical round discs.
To make the pudding: This one is easy. Just buy 2 large boxes of any commercial chocolate instant pudding mix and prepare them according to the box. Let them cool completely, even though they are instant. You want the pudding to be firmly formed, not watery or jiggly.
Once the cake is cooled and sliced, crumble one round and place it in the bottom of a trifle bowl. Press it down so the cake pieces cover the entire bottom of the bowl. Then, spoon in half the chocolate pudding, spreading it around the cake to form a layer ( refer to the picture above. ) Then spread a layer of cool whip -use about 1/2-2/3 of the tub. Again, refer to the above picture to see what it looks like.
So you now have 3 layers: cake crumbles, pudding, cool whip.
Do it again until you reach almost to the top of the bowl. If you have any pudding or cool whip left over, top the top off with it.
Take your Cadbury Chocolate orange and shave it using a small peeler to form chocolate shavings on the top.
Or, score a Hershey’s chocolate bar into pieces for a bigger candy rush. On the above trifle I shaved the orange first then added Hershey’s pieces for a powerful chocolate punch.
Let the whole thing sit, covered with cellophane on the top, in the fridge, overnight.
Serve cold. Disclaimer: When I feel the emotional need to make this, NO ONE ELSE is allowed to have any.
Just saying.
WARNING: This is NOT for anyone on a diet!!! hee hee. You can reduce some of the calories by using SUGAR FREE INSTANT CHOCOLATE PUDDING and COOL WHIP FREE ( or FAT FREE COOL WHIP. )
Bon Appetite ~Peg
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Peggy Jaeger, Author 