Black Forest Trifle pudding in a jar

No genie in a bottle © Cookaroo

Have you made a mess in the kitchen lately? I have. Three times already. Sometimes you flop real bad, sometimes you can manage to salvage it. And it's so hot in the kitchen that it's hard not to feel like a puddle of sweat when you want to do anything at all.

Which is why, initially for Radhika's Blog Hop Wednesdays, I wanted to do something cool, frozen and lickable. Having been paired with Vidya of Sugar 'n Spice, the options I had were myriad but I zeroed in on these Mosaic Bars which looked so fun and I thought I'd do a popsicle version of the same.

I also decided to use vegetarian jelly for the same. Stupid stupid move. While the jelly set alright, it just wasn't cube-able. Plus I decided to use China grass vanilla jelly for the white layer. Another super idiotic move. Anyhoo, I steered on - mixed my jellies -pink, yellow, orange and green. Made the pudding and then put it all together in a loaf tin.

Ok, you can hit me on the head now. Because by now I should have known this was going to flop. So when I turned the pudding around, what did I get? A puddle of gunk.

In panic, I went back to Vidya's blog and picked up something that required a little less stress. I had chocolate pastry cream in the fridge since I'd made eclairs earlier. And cherries. And kirsch, so it made perfect sense to make her Black Forest Trifle, with tiny bits of tweaking. No brownies, but hey that's the easiest part.

So I used her brownie recipe, except I cut the quantity in half, the pastry cream is pretty much like Smitten Kitchen's pudding except it's Dorie Greenspan, but the ingredients are almost the same - milk, chocolate, and cornstarch except mine had egg yolks. As you can see my whipped cream fell a bit, I blame it on the weather, but it still turned out pretty good.

Anyhoo, presenting Black Forest Trifle for Blog Hop Wednesdays (should I say Thursday?!)

Wish I was a cookie jar © Cookaroo

Black Forest Trifle


Brownie
Whipped cream
Cherries
Kirsch
Chocolate pudding

For the brownie

 4 tblsp butter
80 gms semisweet chocolate chips
4 tblsp cocoa 3 large eggs
1 ½ tsp instant coffee
1 tbsp pure vanilla
½ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
¼ cup chocolate chips

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degree F. Melt together butter, semisweet chocolate chips and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water (double boil). Allow it to cool slightly.

2. In another bowl stir together eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow it to cool to room temperature.

3. Sift together ½ cup flour, baking powder and salt. Add into the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the dark chocolate chips into the chocolate batter. Mix well and fill the batter into the muffin tin. Band bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when tested

For the chocolate pudding 

(Adapted from Baking by Dorie Greenspan)

2 cups whole Milk

4 large egg yolks

6 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted

1/4 teaspoon salt

175 gms / 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces (I forgot the butter)

Method
1. Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended.

3. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk-- this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk.

4. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly (making sure to get the edges of the pot), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.
5. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are full incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky.

6.  Scrape the cream into a bowl. You can press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the pastry cream until cold.

Assembly

1. Cut pieces of the brownie, and set aside. Line the bottom of your serving dish with a tiny bit of ganache or chocolate sauce. Press the brownie piece down.

2. Sprinkle a tsp of kirsch over it. If you don't have kirsch, just use the plain sugar water or the brine of the cherries. Spoon in three tablespoons of the chocolate pudding.

3. Put a layer of cherries, and then some whipped cream. Repeat all four layer. Top with a cherry and you're ready!

Popping cherries © Cookaroo

Thank you Radhika for pairing me with Vidya. This was a real fun recipe to try. And it goes to Blog Hop Wednesdays Week 18