Apple Pie Trifle

Prior to making this, I had only had trifle once in my life. That was a little over a year ago and while it was good, it wasn’t great. It occurred to me a few days ago when I saw this that really, I should love trifle. I love cake, I love fruit, I love whipped cream, and I really love them all combined. This got the hamster wheel turning and I started to think about what type of trifle I really wanted to make. Don’t get me wrong, I love berries, but finding a large quantity of good fresh berries for a price that’s not out of control-that’s a little tough.

So instead I came up with this. Apples finely chopped then tossed with cinnamon sugar, and layered with pound cake and vanilla whipped cream. Oh yes, I used pound cake instead of angel food cake. Don’t get me wrong, I like angel food cake, but I wanted the moist buttery richness of pound cake to make this just a little bit more like apple pie.

I opted to do individual trifles in half-pint jars. Largely because I love jars, but also because I didn’t like the way the trifle looked so beautiful in its serving dish to turn into an uncontrollable messy pile on the plate. This way each serving has the beautiful layers.

And a final quick note about the layers. In the future I will cut the cake layers in half, for more small layers. It’s just a personal preference-I’d rather be able to get a bit of everything in each bite (you can imagine what my fork looks like at Thanksgiving).

Apple Pie Trifle
-1 quarter recipe of pound cake (recipe follows-although it’s a standard thing so use what you like. Also, feel free to use any other type of cake!)
-3 medium size apples, cored and chopped
-5 tbsp sugar, divided as 3 tbsp and 2 tbsp
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1 cup of whipped cream.

Begin by tossing together the apples, 3 tbsp sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside. Combine the cream and sugar into a mixing bowl, and whip until medium peaks form.

Using your jar (or other serving device of choice) as a stencil, cut out rounds of cake. Slice each round in half horizontally if desired. Eat scrap pieces of cake. 

 
Place a spoonful of whipped cream into the bottom of the jar. Use the spoon to spread it some, but don’t worry about being too perfect-the cake piece will press it into a nice layer. Add a slice of cake, and push it onto the whipped cream. Spoon on the apples, I tried to keep this layer similar to the others. Repeat until you run out of room in the jar. I went ahead and drizzled the apple-cinnamon juice from the bottom of the bowl over the top layer of whipped cream.

Pound Cake (quarter recipe)
(perfect example of a recipe most easily completed by weight measurements)
-1 stick butter (112 g)
-a heaping ½ cup sugar (112 g)
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-2 eggs
-a slightly heaping cup of flour (112 g)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and eggs, beating smooth after each addition. Mix in flour until just incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan (I used a 9 in round pan) and bake until tester comes out clean (10-15 minutes, for me).

This was definitely as good as I had hoped. Is there a dessert that hasn't lived up to your expectations...yet?