Easy Chocolate trifle recipe anyone can make!

Introduction

This chocolate trifle is the the simplest recipe. It is literally perfect for someone with no cooking skills as no cooking is required. Although it is not a classic trifle recipe with strawberry jelly, it has definitely become a traditional trifle made in our house. I do feel that this recipe because of it’s simplicity is a bit of a cheat dessert. But the way I see it, is why make life more difficult when it tastes so good with minimum effort!

Why chocolate trifle?

Well why on earth not? I adore chocolate, I literally would have it on every item of food I ate if I could. But the love for chocolate trifle, like most things came from my childhood.

My mum was quite strict in not letting us have lots of access to sweet, chocolates, biscuits etc. They were very much a treat to have now and again. Maybe this is why I indulge so much now on chocolates. However she would on occasion bring my sister and I these chocolate trifles from the supermarket, which me sister and I fought over! That is how much we loved them. Unfortunately the ingredients changed and were made with beef gelatine, so we could no longer eat as they were not halal. The devastation was very real.

A few years later, when we had supposedly grown up, my phuppo (dad’s sister) gave us her chocolate trifle recipe. The obsession with chocolate trifle made a come back into our household once more!

Variations to the recipe

My aunt adds frozen black forest fruits into her chocolate trifle. I have never particularly liked the tanginess of forest fruits, my adaptation of her recipe misses these off. However I do add on berries on top of the cream as a visual finishing touch. usually strawberries and raspberries work very well, but blueberries will work too.

If you want that fruity tangy flavour, you can definitely play around with the recipe and add in the frozen black forest fruits or a fruit jelly on top of the sponge layer. If using the frozen black forest fruits, add them to a sauce pan with a splash of water and 2 teaspoons of sugar and simmer until the fruit is very soft. There should be no liquid left and the water will have evaporated before you add the fruit to the sponge layer.

You can find readymade chocolate chip muffins in any mainstream supermarket, just have a look in the bakery section. You can always use double chocolate chip muffins if you really want to go for a chocolatey trifle flavour. As much as I am a chocoholic, I do feel that the double chocolate muffins and push the dessert to being overly sweet. But it’s obviously down to your personal preference.

I always like to use Ambrosia Devon Custard, it works perfectly in this dessert and the addition of the white chocolate takes really well to it. However you could use any ready made custard brand you prefer. As long as it’s thick custard (rather than runny when you make it from the powdered version), it will be fine in this recipe.

How to serve Chocolate trifle

I love to make this dessert when entertaining, especially when you have kids coming over. For that extra wow factor, I would recommend on investing on a lovely trifle dish. It will not be going to waste once you have tried this chocolate trifle! I recently made this trifle when some friends visited. The five children all promptly lined back up for seconds. If only they would eat all their food like this!

If you need to make the trifle for more than 8 people, you could quite as easily put these into a rectangular glass roasting dishes. It obviously will not quite as glamourous, but it’s a great dessert to prepare in advance and serve at a big dinner party.

This trifle would also make a lovely afternoon tea with your friends. Try making this trifle with chapli kebabs and chaat for a lovely afternoon treat.

See my video on Youtube, Instagram or TikTok to see how to make this dessert.

INGREDIENTS  

• 4 chocolate chip muffins You could use double chocolate chip if you want an extra chocolatey flavour
• 200 grams white baking chocolate
• 500 grams Readymade custard
• 450 ml double cream
• 1-2 flake chocolate bars
• 3-4 strawberries
• 5-6 raspberries

INSTRUCTIONS 

• Crumble the muffins into your trifle serving dish. Gently position them into a layer, however do not compress them too hard.
• Melt the chocolate in a bowl. You can do this in the microwave, by using short blasts and stirring or in a glass bowl placed on a pan of boiling water on the hob. Be careful not to let it burn.
• Then mix the melted chocolate in with the custard and 150ml of the fresh cream. Make sure it has been stirred through well.
• Then pour this over the sponge base in the trifle bowl.
• In another bowl, whip the remaining 300ml of cream until firm. You do not want to overwhip the cream that it becomes so stiff you can not make the cream layer in the trifle. Once the chocolate custard is cool, put the cream over the custard. Smooth it out to make a smooth layer. Or if you are feeling more adventurous, you could pipe it over the custard.
• Make sure the custard is cool before adding the layer of cream, otherwise the cream will lose it’s firmness after being whipped and become runny. This will ruin the look of the trifle.
• Then with a rolling pin, hit the Flake chocolate bars on a shopping board, with their wrappers still on. Once you can feel the chocolate has crumbled in the wrappers, open the wrappers and sprinkle the chocolate flake over the cream. Depending on the width of you bowl, you might not need the full two flakes.
• Then wash and slice the strawberries finely.
• When adding the strawberries and raspberries, make sure they have been thoroughly dried. Any water on the fruit will dissolve the cream, again ruining the look of the trifle. 
• You can place them randomly to you preference, to make a pattern