Triple Chocolate Peppermint Trifle

By taniaf

Ingredients

• Cake:
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1.5 tsp vanilla
• Syrup:
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup chocolate liqueur (Godiva)
• Mousse:
• 2.5 cups heavy cream
• 12 oz white chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped candy canes
• Pudding:
• 8 oz milk chocolate, chopped
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 egg yollks

Details

Servings 10

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9 inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Line bottom with parchment, spray again.
Make cake: Bring milk and butter to a simmer in a saucepan, then remove from heat. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In a mixer, whisk eggs until pale. Add sugar gradually, beating well, until pale and thick. Add vanilla. Reduce speed, add hot milk mix in a slow steady stream. Add flour mix, beat until combined. Pour batter into pan, bake 25-30 minutes. Let cool in pan on wire rack 20 minutes. Remove parchment, let cool completely. Halve cake horizontally.
Make syrup:
Bring sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan, stir until dissolved. Let cool completely, then stir in liqueur.
Make mousse:
Bring 1 cup cream just to a boil in a saucepan. Place white chocolate in food processor, with machine running, pour in hot cream in a slow steady stream, and process until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl set in an ice water bath.
Let cool, stirring often, until thick, 15 minutes. Beat rest of cream (1.5 cups) until nearly stiff peaks form. Fold into white chocolate mixture, then fold in candy. Cover with plastic and chill 4-6 hours.
Make pudding:
Put chocolate in a large bowl, bring cream almost to a boil in a saucepan. Whisk yolks in another bowl. Pour in hot cream in a slow, steady stream, whisking. Pour mixture back into pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 2 minutes. Pour through a fine sieve over chocolate, whisk until smooth. Set bowl in an ice water bath. Let cool, stirring, until thick, 15 minutes. Cover with plastic, press onto surface, chill 3 hours or until set.
To assemble:
Spread 1/3 mousse on bottom of trifle bowl. Top with a cake layer, and brush with half the syrup. Top with half the pudding, then more mousse. Place other cake layer on top. Brush with more syrup, top with rest of pudding and mousse. Cover with plastic, refrigerate 12 hours.
To serve: top with whipped cream and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.