Looks yummy, right? Well, this trifle is actually the result of a mistake. It happens to the best of us, and usually means wasted cake (which is a horrible, horrible thing). This time, I was determined to use this cake, especially since the mistake happened during baking, and not in the actual recipe.
The cake had the perfect taste and texture. The only problem was that I over-filled the pan, and it overflowed while baking. Removing the cake from the pan was very difficult, and the sides tore. Since I was making this cake for a customer, I had no choice but to make another cake.
But I wasn’t ready to waste a perfectly good cake. This light and soft butter cake screamed strawberry shortcake. But once I took a good look at it, I realized there was no way I could torte it and fill with strawberries. After a bit of thought, I realized I could cut up the cake into cubes and make a trifle. So I took 2 lbs of hulled and cut strawberries and combined them with 1/2 cup of sugar.
After a few hours, the strawberries were soft and all the juice had been drawn out.
Then I simply cut the cake into cubes and layered the cake with strawberries and Cool Whip. I ended up using a 16 oz tub of Cool Whip, and made 2 full layers. You could do more, depending on the size of your trifle dish. I borrowed my mom’s, and hers was fairly large (8 inches in diameter by 5 inches high) so it took a lot of cake and strawberries to fill the whole layer.
So what happens if you have a deformed chocolate cake? In that case, I would suggest layering the cake with cherry pie filling, Cool Whip, and chocolate shavings for a black forest cake effect. Really, you can use whatever you want in the layers, even instant pudding. Just remember that texture is important, and you want whatever you use to meld together well (so perhaps a gummy bear trifle would not be best). Other than that, let your imagination run wild and have fun!!
