Chocolate Trifle
With Mixed Fruits

Chocolate Trifle is a delicious, quick and easy dessert make with instant chocolate pudding, ladyfingers, bananas, pineapple and cherries, then topped with whipped cream.

Chocolate Trifle Recipe

• 2 boxes Instant Chocolate Pudding mix
  
  
• 24 Ladyfingers cookies or 48 vanilla wafers
  
  
• 3 large bananas
  
  
• 1 cup fresh pineapple cubes (I use canned pineapple chunks)
  
  
• 2 tablespoons pineapple juice
  
  
• 5 oz. Maraschino Cherries (1/2 10 oz.jar)
  
  
• 2 tablespoons Maraschino Cherry juice
  
  
• 1 recipe Homemade Whipped Cream or 6-8 oz. frozen whipped topping, thawed
  
  

Mix pudding with milk according to directions on box.


Set aside.

Line the bottom of a trifle bowl, or other glass bowl that holds at least 2 quarts (8 cups) with half of the lady fingers or vanilla wafers.

Drain the pineapple.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons juice over the cookies.

Lay the chunks on each of the cookies. (2 chunks for ladyfingers and 1 for vanilla wafers).

Slice banana in crosswise slices the thickness of the cookies.

Place a slice of banana on each pineapple piece.

Spread half of the chocolate pudding over the bananas. 

Place remainder of the cookies over the layer of pudding.

Drain the cherries.

Sprinkle the cherry juice over the cookies.

Place a layer of fruit (cherries, additional bananas and additional pineapple, if any) over the second layer of cookies.

Spread remainder of pudding over the fruits.

Top all with whipped cream.

Smooth top and garnish additional cherries, if preferred.

Chill uncovered for at least 3 hours before serving.

This allows the cookies to soften.

Note: If you prefer a harder cookie with your pudding, omit the fruit juices.

However, the fruit juices add an awesome, unique flavor to the dish.

Old Fashioned Trifles

Trifles are historically made using left over sponge cake soaked with wine or other alcohol to soften the aged cake.

Early American recipes called for several pounds of flour for making cakes.

That would seem to me to create an abundance of leftovers.

Today, trifle recipes have evolved to include a variety of ingredients, such as fruit and many have eliminated the use of alcohol, replacing it with fruit juices.

For fun, I have included below, the first trifle recipe to appear in an American published cookbook by an American.

The cookbook is American Cookery, authored by Amelia Simmons, an orphan and American colonist, published in 1798.

A Trifle

Fill a difh with bifcuit finely broken, rufk fpiced cake, wet with wine, then pour a good boil'd cuftard, (not too thick) over the rufk, and put a fyllabub over that; garnish with jelly and flowers.

Sure am glad I don't have to use that older Old Fashioned Recipes.


I am certain you are, too.

Related Pages

Chocolate Banana Split Pudding Recipe

Return to Pudding Recipes

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