Spooky Graveyard Trifle

I've been craving Smitten Kitchen's stout cake again lately. I made it last winter and it was awesome so I thought turning that into cupcakes would be a fabulous contribution to our Halloween potluck at work.

Unfortunately, the cupcakes completely crumbled! I don't know what I did wrong, but not one cupcake came out of the pan in one piece. Well, I couldn't let that delicious cake go to waste, even if it was a crumbly mess.

So, I quickly whipped up some cream with a splash of vanilla and 2 scoops of powdered sugar. I layered that cake in a clear glass bowl with the whipped cream and some vanilla pudding that I dyed orange with food coloring. A layer of orange oreos ensured the halloweeny-ness of the dessert.

The layers are: cake, pudding, whipped cream, crushed oreos, repeat. To make this sweet concoction into a graveyard, I dipped Milano cookies in melted semi-sweet chocolate chips, then used some leftover purple cream cheese frosting (I had frozen a few weeks ago after making another cake) to decorate the tombstones. Gummy worms complete the spooky effect.

While this dessert contains many fake food items that I would normally never eat (boxed instant pudding!, food coloring!, oreos!, milanos!, gummy worms!), I feel Halloween is a special occasion that warrants a little leeway in my real food quest.

I got raves about this dessert from co-workers! The flavors are really amazing and the chocolate stout cake, while crumbly, is still an awesome recipe. The addition of some real whipped cream only enhances its true chocolate flavor.

ONE YEAR AGO: Hippie Chow