The Easter Bunny’s Favorite Mini Trifles…a kid-friendly Easter dessert

Reminiscent of the kid favorite dirt cups…but nice enough to serve to adults, too, these fun and festive mini trifles are a perfect Easter dessert for your holiday gathering.Happy Easter week! It’s been spring break at our house and things have been a little crazy! The first two days were super rainy, so we did play dates with friends and the boys seriously tornadoed the house (can I use tornado as a verb??? I guess I just did). The last couple days have been beautiful though, and I’m excited to soak up the sunshine. We’re enjoying digging in the dirt (someday we’ll landscape and have grass), taking trips to the park, and going on bike rides.

I’m trying to sneak some fun Easter-themed activities into our days as well–like making these adorable little spring-themed trifles.

Fun fact: my three boys helped me with every step of making them. (Well, at least the older two…the one-year-old was busy trying to shove random items in the toaster oven and dunk everyone’s shoes in the toilet…save me!) In any case, It’s a super kid-friendly Easter dessert, perfect for getting kids involved in the kitchen.

Now, to be fair, if your kids help, you might end up with some trifles that look like this…I chose to let my boys have free reign over how they decorated the top because we weren’t serving these to guests. Had I insisted on a more aesthetic design, I’m confident they could have made theirs look much more like mine. But in this case, I wanted to give them as much ownership as possible over the process.

And you know what? My six-year-old was so proud of how he stuck the carrot into the “ground” (because it was more realistic that way) that he really wanted me to take a picture of his creation. So I did. And I’m sharing it with you are to remind myself that some things are more important than my version of perfection. Note to self.

Alright, back to how we made this tasty (if not always magazine-perfect) desert…

It all started with leftovers of a chocolate cake we made for dessert last Sunday. It’s a long story, but the boys were promised cake, and then we realized we had no butter to make frosting for said cake (oops). Sooo, we drizzled some caramel on their pieces and saved the rest of the unfrosted for later. The cake stared at me every time I walked by it in the kitchen over the course of the next day, begging me to give it a real purpose (and, yes, I know that it’s weird that I’m worried about the emotional fulfillment of my dessert).

My subsequent brainstorming led to these little beauties…Layers of cake, pudding and “mousse” topped with coconut “grass”, candy eggs, and chocolate coated strawberries to look like carrots. So fun! 

Admittedly, there are quite a few steps to making these, but the great thing is that almost all of the prep work can be done ahead of time in 5-10 minute increments whenever you have a minute, and then the final assembly of the trifle is SUPER fast.

My boys had so much fun making the various parts of this cooking project, and they devoured the final result with pride and glee.

I know it’s a little late to be posting an Easter dessert, but this one could be used for any springtime gathering…so I’m gonna go ahead and share it anyway. Besides, there’s always next year. 

Easter Bunny’s Favorite Mini Trifles

Yield: 12 mini trifles (depending on the size of your dishes, you may be able to make more or fewer)

Ingredients

• 1 chocolate cake, crumbled
• 2 boxes (5.1 oz) chocolate pudding, prepared
• 1 pint whipped cream or 1 container Cool Whip
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut (colored green with food coloring)
• Candy & fruit for decorating
• 12 small mason jars or mini trifle dishes 

Directions

Ahead of time:

1. Bake a chocolate cake (I used a 9×13 pan). Let it cool. Cover and set aside until ready to use.
2. Prepare your chocolate pudding. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Place shredded coconut in a zip top bag and add a couple drops of green food coloring. Seal and shake to distribute. If you want a more vibrant green, add another drop or two, until you like the color you see. Set aside until ready to use.
4. If you want to make the strawberry “carrots”, melt white chocolate and color it orange. Wash, dry, and then dip the strawberries in the chocolate one at a time, holding the green stems to keep them out of the way. Place on parchment or wax paper to cool/harden. Set aside until ready to use.

To assemble the trifles:

1. Lay out all your ingredients.
2. In a small bowl, mix 2/3 cup chocolate pudding with 2 cups whipped cream. Fold together carefully, trying to avoid beating all the air out of the whipped cream. This is your “cheater” chocolate mousse.
3. Layer the trifle as follows:
   1. crumbled cake
   2. chocolate mousse
   3. chocolate pudding
4. Depending on the size of the jar/dish you use, you may repeat this pattern 2-3 times. I had two of each layer.
5. When you get to the top of your jar, sprinkle your “Easter grass” coconut.
6. Garnish with a strawberry “carrot” and/or candy eggs.
7. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. They should last up to 24 hours in the fridge without any trouble.

Enjoy!

Source: The Many Little Joys…specifically, my desire to figure out a use for leftover chocolate cake… 🙂