Black Forest Trifle

Hey Santa, I know I've been a really good girl this year (apart from the occasional evil thoughts...but I can't help them, sometimes certain people really get on my nerves, hee hee) and you are going to bring me some really nice presents, but I thought a little bribe to remind you to fill my stockings is certainly necessary. So on Christmas Eve you will find a delicious Black Forest Trifle waiting for you in my kitchen, feel free to serve yourself and hope you like it!

Now seriously, I've been hella busy this weekend preparing this recipe, doing some last-minute christmassy crafts for the pictures (and for my home) and sorting out holiday menu plans. But all this hustle has been so worth it, cause this dessert came out as I wanted, the pictures look good to me and right after I end writting this blog post I will sit on my couch, relax and eat one of these mouth-watering trifles. Treating yourself from time to time can do you so good.

Let me tell you what's inside each cup of dessert: a fine layer of cherry jam, a layer of chocolate cake, more cherry jam, mascarpone cream, little pieces of saucy cherries, more mascarpone, another layer of chocolate cake, I spread some more cherry jam on top of this layer and finally I piped cute swirls of cream cheese frosting...and a fresh cherry on top. Pure decadence in a cup!

I wish you a very merry Christmas surrounded by the people you love the most, let's celebrate and forget about the bad times (at least for a few days), let's laugh, eat yummy things and make a toast to a better year for all of us. We deserve it.

Receta en español aquí!

Black Forest Trifle
(servings: 4 approx.)

Ingredients
- For the Chocolate cake: 
Your favorite chocolate cake or my Chocolate Torte recipe.

- For the mascarpone cream:
1 cup plus 3 tbsp mascarpone cheese.
2 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar.

- For the saucy cherries:
16 fresh cherries, washed and pitted.
1 tbsp granulated sugar.
4 tbsp water.
2 tbsp Kirsch (or rum).

- For the cream cheese frosting:
6 oz/170g cream cheese, room temperature.
1/4 cup powdered sugar.
1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

Fresh cherries to decorate.
Cherry jam with a drizzle of Kirsch or your favorite liquor.

Directions

Bake the chocolate cake a day ahead and refrigerate in order to cut the round pieces easily.

To prepare the saucy cherries:

In a medium saucepan combine cherries, sugar and water over medium heat. Stir till mixture starts to simmer. Pour the liquor into the cherries, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and allow to fully cool at room temperature.

To make the mascarpone cream: 

In a large mixing bowl combine mascarpone cheese and sugar using a rubber spatula until the sugar has been incorporated. Using your stand mixer beat at high speed for 3 to 4 minutes, until the frosting looks fluffy. Stop your mixer a couple times and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula so all of the cream cheese/sugar mixture is incorporated.

To make the cream cheese frosting:

Same process as with the mascarpone cheese. 

To assemble the trifle:

You can make the same number of layers like I told you in the introduction above or make as many layers you want; it will all depend on the size of the cup/glass you use. 

I started with a thin layer of the boozy cherry jam on the base and then added the first cake layer, covered it with more jam and spread the mascarpone cream. After that I sprinkled chopped cherries and spread a bit more mascarpone cream and started all over again with the chocolate cake. Finally I piped cream cheese frosting on top and decorated it with one fresh cherry. 

Add as many combinations of jam, mascarpone, chopped cherries, etc as you want, as long as you create a black/white/red/white/black pattern. 

Store in the fridge and allow it to stand at room temperature around 15 minutes before serving.