Red Velvet Trifle

How amazing does this look? 

This was a real big hit as a Valentine's Day dessert over here last year. And then again, for my mom's birthday later that month. 

I cannot take credit for the idea or recipe. After some googling I came across a recipe  from RecipeGirl.com that looked great. I followed her cake directions to a T and modified the filling. This is what I came up with:

Cake:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/4 tsp. salt

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. vinegar

1 1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ounce red food coloring (use 2 ounces more for a deeper red color)

Filling:

1 cup strawberries

1 cup raspberries

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temp

One (8 ounce) tub marscapone cheese

1 tub Cool Whip (original recipe uses 1/3 cup sugar and 2 cups heavy whipping cream)

shaved dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13 inch pan generously with cooking spray and then dust lightly with flour.

Cake - With an electric mixer, blend butter and sugar in a large bowl; set aside. Sift together flour and salt; set aside. Mix the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, baking soda, and vinegar in a separate bowl. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk mixture to the butter mixer. Mix well after each addition. In a small bowl, mix red food coloring and cocoa powder; add to the cake batter and mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Whipped Layer - In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and marscapone cheese on high until light and fluffy. Add in cool whip and mix until well combined. Since I didn't use the whipping cream, I did not use an electric mixer to mix in the cool whip but rather folded it in with a spatula so that it stayed some what light and fluffy.

Assembly - In the bottom of the trifle dish, arrange a single layer of red velvet cake chunks. Spoon about 1 1/2 cups of the whipped topping on top of the cake, as well as the strawberries and raspberries. Sprinkle with shaved chocolate. Keep repeating layers until you run out of room in your dish.

RecipeGirl.com also notes that a boxed red velvet cake mix can be used instead of making it from scratch if you'd like. I have not used a box mix yet for red velvet cake but I will say that her cake recipe above is outstanding. And if you have the right tools (electric mixer, stand mixer, etc), I'd say give it a shot.

Here is the link to RecipeGirl's recipe: Red Velvet Cake Trifle

And one more look at the trifle...

Enjoy!

And let me know what you think! I love adding fruit to desserts like this. Makes them seem not so bad. :)