Valentine’s Day Red Velvet Trifle

For this lovely Valentine’s dessert, I combined two of my favorite things in the dessert world – an old favorite and a new favorite. I’ve always loved trifle – so tasty, so fancy, so easy. I recently got this little Mason jars, and they dress anything up! So my red velvet trifle was born!

Red Velvet Trifle - This chocolate dessert is perfect for Valentine's Day or any holiday! Red velvet cake with chocolate mousse and chocolate pudding. A match made in heaven!

I’m pretty picky about my chocolate and desserts, and this was good stuff! I really love the dense red velvet cake, and the dark chocolate mousse would be to die for all by itself. Combine that with the chocolate pudding just in case there’s not enough chocolate, and how can you go wrong?

Red Velvet Edited

Valentine's Day Red Velvet Dark Chocolate Trifle

by Laura Smith

Keywords: dessert Valentines Day Trifle

Ingredients (12 servings)

    For the Cake

    • 1 package red velvet cake mix
    • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
    • 1 egg
    • 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp milk

    For the Mousse

    • 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
    • 10 oz dark chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)

    For the Pudding

    • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
    • 1/2 cup half and half or milk
    • 3 large egg yolks, preferably at room temperature
    • 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)

    Instructions

    For the Cake

    First, prepare the dense cake. This cake is a cross between a brownie and a cake. I would NOT prepare the traditional cake using the recipe on the back of the box, because it would be too tall to be able to cut out the hearts.

    Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease 8 by 8 inch baking pan.

    Combine cake mix, oil, egg, and 1/4 cup of the milk. Then add the other 2 Tbsp milk until the batter isn't completely crumbly. It will still be pretty dense – more dense than traditional cake batter or brownie batter.

    Spread it into the pan and bake for 26 minutes.

    Remove from oven and allow to cool.

    For the Mousse

    Prepare an ice water bath in a large bowl. Place chocolate in a smaller bowl. Heat 1 cup of cream in small saucepan over medium high heat until it's almost boiling, stirring constantly. Pour hot cream over chocolate and stir until smooth. Place bowl into ice water bath to cool for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    Beat the remaining 1 1/2 cups cream in stand mixer on high until stiff peaks form (about 2 minutes). Gently fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture.

    Place plastic wrap directly on the mousse to avoid crusting and let chill overnight (or at least 3-4 hours).

    For the Pudding

    Refresh the ice water bath. Place chocolate in smaller bowl.

    Heat the cream and milk in small saucepan over medium high heat until it's almost boiling, stirring constantly. Beat the egg yolks in small bowl. Take out about 1/2 cup of the hot cream and gradually pour it into the egg yolks while whisking constantly. Then pour the yolk/cream mixture back into the cream on the stovetop. Continue cooking while whisking until mixture thickens. (This took about 5 minutes.) The mixture will not be super thick – it will thicken more as it cools. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and whisk until smooth.

    Place in ice water bath for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    Place plastic wrap directly on the mousse to avoid crusting and let chill overnight (or at least 3-4 hours).

    Assembly

    Using a small heart shaped cookie cutter, cut 10 hearts out of the cake. Crumble remaining cake. Place a layer of cake, a spoon full of pudding, and a couple dollops of mousse in each jar. Repeat, and top with heart. This made 12 mini mason jars full (but I had to leave two without the heart on top in order to have enough cake to fill the jars). I only had one serving of mousse leftover.

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    Posted Under: Food and Recipes