January 4, 2013

salted caramel chocolate toffee trifle

A few weeks ago, David's work had a Christmas potluck and he asked me to make him a trifle to contribute. I already have a delicious chocolate peppermint trifle that I like but David's not big on peppermint so he requested something different. I had seen this recipe on Pinterest and decided to try it and David texted me the afternoon of the potluck to say that all his co-workers flipped over it. Of course, I hadn't been able to try any of it before I sent it off with him so I was a little worried about how it was going to turn out.
I decided to make the trifle again for our New Year's Eve party and finally tasted a bit of it (my first sugar in almost 4 months!) and it was delicious (and rich)! Woo-ee! The best part is that, even though you have to assemble it, this trifle is incredibly easy to make. The caramel sauce MAKES the dish so don't sell yourself short by buying caramel sauce. It's easy to make and really worth the extra time!

1 box Devil's Food Cake
2 boxes (the small one - 3.9 each) instant chocolate pudding - I use the chocolate fudge
1 carton Cool Whip, thawed
8 Heath candy bars, chopped
Caramel Sauce (recipe below)

Prepare and bake the cake mix according to package directions and bake in a 8 x 11" pan. Cool completely on a wire rack and then cut into 1.5 - 2 inch cubes. Prepare pudding according to package directions. Make caramel sauce (and set aside to cool - it's best if you can refrigerate it a bit too to thicken up).

Place half of the cake cubes on the bottom of a 3 quart trifle bowl, lightly pressing down to fill in the gaps. Top with half of the Cool Whip and then half of the chocolate pudding. Drizzle caramel sauce on top of the pudding then sprinkle half of the chopped Heath bars on top. Repeat layers (cake - Cool Whip - pudding - caramel - Heath bars) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until ready to serve.

Salted Caramel Sauce
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
a sprinkle of sea salt

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, corn syrup and brown sugar over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir constantly until a candy thermometer reaches 260 - 270 degrees F. Take off heat and slowly stir in cream. Put back on burner over medium heat just until mixture comes to a boil. Let boil for one minute and remove from heat. Let cool for 2 minutes before stirring in vanilla extract. Set aside to cool and add a sprinkle of sea salt. Refrigerate until ready to use (I ended up having about 1/2 cup extra after what I used for the trifle - which is fine because it's great for putting on ice cream, dipping apple slices, etc.)

Adapted from here

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