Chocolate Butterscotch Trifle

During the days that we were without power last week, I occupied myself by reading through some of my cookbooks. I love learning about new ways to combine foods and create new dishes with favorite ingredients. All too often, I find myself making the same meals over and over again. So my resolution this week was to try at least one new recipe.

Over the weekend, Ryan was in the mood for some chocolate cupcakes which I decided to make for him while we was studying in the library. I brought Avery's bumbo seat into the kitchen and she talked and kept me company while I baked. I had a chocolate cake mix in the cupboard, but I remembered a cake I had baked from scratch in Grenada that was just about as easy as using a mix. Plus, it has coffee in it, and nothing is better than chocolate and coffee.

I mixed the cake, poured it into my favorite purple polka-dot cupcake wrappers and waited for them to bake. When I took them out of the oven, I was very disappointed to see that instead of rising to a nice round shape, they were spread out and flat. As I attempted to take them out of the cupcake pan, I noticed they were extremely soft (although they were fully baked) and did not hold their shape well. I knew I couldn't frost them and eat them as regular cupcakes. Since they still tasted fine, I thought I would break the cupcakes up into pieces and use them in a trifle dessert.

The next step was to think of what else to add to the cake. I had made a trifle a couple years ago with chocolate pudding, but I didn't want to go overboard on the chocolate (for Ryan's sake). I do love puddings, though, so I found a recipe for a homemade butterscotch pudding and decided to give that a try. It was a little time-consuming, but the result was so worth it! As the final layer, I beat heavy whipping cream with a little powdered sugar, cinnamon, and coffee. I topped the dessert with a few extra cake crumbs and caramelized walnuts. This might be one of my new go-to recipes during the fall. It was rich in flavor, but suprisingly light. And it tastes just as good a few days later. Excuse me while I go get a spoon . . .