Death by Chocolate Trifle ~ YUM

I was doing a Pampered Chef show for a friend a little over a week ago and she had made a Death by Chocolate dessert for her guests.  At one glance (and then at many bites), I knew I had to make my own.  As she described her steps to me, I knew I wanted to make mine into a trifle.  Afterall, I love all things trifle and most love that you really never need a recipe - just throw together lots of different things that sound good together and somehow they always come out looking - and tasting - amazing!

That was the exact outcome here.

I literally left her show and drove directly to Target and picked up some candy, as I had all the other ingredients on hand already.  Here are all of my ingredients:

~ Chocolate cake mix (+ ingredients to prepare as directed)

~ Mini Reeses Cups

~ Kit Kat bars
~ Reeses Pieces
~ Chocolate syrup
~ Large Cool Whip (you'll want it thawed for this recipe)
~ Large box chocolate pudding

Is your mouth watering yet?  Just wait.

I was actually preparing this quickly to take next door in an hour to a friend's party, so I had to be quick.  To make a normal 9x13 cake according to the cake mix directions, I needed to let it bake for 33 minutes.  I didn't have that time.  Instead, I pulled out my trusty Brownie Pans and poured the prepared batter into each well.  I had enough for nearly two full pans.  I baked the cake at 350 for 17 minutes instead and they came out PERFECTLY done.  I saved 16 minutes, cutting the baking time nearly in half!  Since I'd be crumbling the cake anyhow, it didn't make a single difference.

During those 17 minutes I pulled out my Food Chopper and started chopping away at the Kit Kat, breaking it into a fine crumble.  I prepared the pudding as directed and let it sit for the suggested 5 minutes.  After that time I combined it with half of the cool whip, creating a mousse-like concoction.  Then the fun began! 

Once the cakes came out I crumbled them by hand into the bottom of my Trifle Bowl.  My layers went like this:

1.  Crumbled chocolate cake
2.  Cool Whip
3.  Assortment of three candies, sprinkled over Cool Whip
4.  Crumbled chocolate cake
5.  Half of mousse-like concoction
6.  Assortment of three candies, sprinkled over mousse
7.  Crumbled chocolate cake
8.  Second half of mousse-like concoction
9.  Assortment of three candies, sprinkled over Cool Whip
10.  Crumbled chocolate cake
11.  Remaining Cool Whip

(Do you see those little eyes hoping that Mommy forgets to take this with her?)

To finish it all off (as if it needed more), I drizzled chocolate syrup over the top cool whip layer and topped with the remaining assortment of candy!  This dessert was absolutely sinful and you can bet that it was completely gone by the end of the party!  And, better yet, created in 20 minutes or less!  YUMMY!