Trifle Cake In A Cup!

 

My friend's daughter Susie was having her 2nd birthday this last weekend and I volunteered to make cupcakes and trifle cake. My good intention was to actually make the cupcakes, but then I came up with the idea to make trifle cake a little more fun and more of a center piece for the party. Because my plan took a little bit of a left turn, I ended up buying the cupcakes. The kid is two, I doubt she even cared, but the trifle cake idea was a hit.

 

I have to say, they came out pretty freaking close to my original idea. This almost never happens, which is the reason why I will do this again at a later date.

 

The plastic cups are just ones I bought from Walmart, store brand. I used some Strawberry jam I'd made a few days ago as the glue to hold the red sugar in place on the cup rims. Just place the jam on a small plate, flip the cup over, and press the rim into the jam. After you do that, dip the rim into the colored sugar. The sugar sticks to the cup longer when you use something like jam or honey.

 

 

Then I started layering my filling. Bottom layer is the vanilla cream.

This is just a 32 oz container of heavy cream and two boxes of vanilla instant pudding with one cup of milk. In a mixer with a wire whisk, add the pudding mix to the heavy cream and mix until it just starts to get really thick, then slowly add in the milk until it becomes light and creamy.

 

It's just that simple. You don't want it so thick that it doesn't spread easily or so thin that it runs. Just eye ball it and trust your gut that you got it right.

 

Trouble shooting the vanilla cream:

If it feels too thick, add more milk. If it's not thick enough, mix it a little longer and don't add any more milk. If you still think it's not thick enough, you may need to add a little more heavy cream to thicken it up.

 

Next up, add the angel food cake. Go with smaller pieces than you would if you were making it in a cake pan or big bowl.

 

I will confess, I buy the angel food cake every time. It's inexpensive and, to be honest, the last thing I want to do in the summer is turn the oven on to bake a cake. If you end up buying yours too (because that's what all the cool kids do), make sure to buy one that is very spongy. Not all store bought angel food cakes are alike, and you may end up with one that is kind of dry and not very good at keeping its form.

 

Your next step is to cut up strawberries and place them in your cups.

 

I would give you more explanation, but seriously, I think the picture is self-explanatory.

 

The final two steps are simple. I take a big dollop or two of the vanilla cream and press it down with my spoon so it goes into the crevices of the cake and strawberry. I then added cool whip to the top. I decided to go a little fancy in my pantsy and make a rose shape.

 

I went even more fancy and cut a strawberry down the middle so I could slide it on to the edge of the cup. I like this look, but the downside is that the strawberry will drip down the side of the cup.

 

 Another option is to just plop a whole strawberry into the middle of the cool whip and call it a day. Both options are equally pretty.

 

 

So that is pretty much it. I think this way of making tifle is really cute for an all girl's type party. It's very baby shower or bridal shower friendly.