Black Forest Trifle

Delicious bing cherries, with devils food cake, mousse and whipped cream combine a dish to die for! I found it at The Food Channel while trying to find something similar here and couldn't find anything, after asking and receiving permission to repost it here, I'm excited to share it with everyone on RecipeZaar! The only difference I made to it was using mostly almond extract and a touch of vanilla in the whipped cream, and because I don't have alchohol on hand I used grape juice in place of the chambord. I also couldn't find any commercially prepared chocolate mousse, so used one small packet of chocolate jello pudding, and mixed some of it with whipped cream I had whipped up.

• Ready In: 1 hr 50 mins
• Serves: 12
• Yields: 1 trifle

Ingredients

• 1  devil's food cake mix (18.25 oz box)
• 2 (15 ounce) cans  dark bing cherries, pitted in heavy juice
•  fresh orange juice, as needed
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar, divided
• 3  tablespoons cornstarch
• 3  tablespoons water
• 2  tablespoons Chambord raspberry liquor or 2  tablespoons kirsch
• 4 1⁄4 ounces  chocolate mousse mix (commercially prepared)
• 1  cup milk
• 3  cups heavy whipping cream
• 3⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract, pure
• 1  ounce  chocolate shavings (optional)

Directions

1. Bake cake according to package instructions. Cool. Cut 6 by 8 into 1½” squares.
2. Drain cherries and reserve juice. Add enough orange juice to cherry juice to equal 1 3/4 cups.
3. Heat juice and 1 cup of sugar to a light boil. Reserve remaining 1/2 cup of sugar for whipped cream.
4. Blend cornstarch with water. Add to boiling juice. Blend with a wire whip to thicken.
5. Add cherries and cook for 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature and add Chambord. Chill to 40°F or less.
6. Whip mousse mix with cold milk and refrigerate to thicken slightly. Mix well with wire whip.
7. Whip heavy cream on medium speed. Add remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and vanilla extract and whip until cream forms soft peaks.
8. Assemble in an 8” round, 5” deep glass trifle bowl.
9. Line the bottom of the bowl with 1 layer of chocolate cake cubes. Fit cake cubes tightly against sides of bowl. (This should take approximately half of the cake.)
10. Spread a layer of the cherries and sauce over the cake cubes, making sure they're visible against the side of the bowl. Then add a layer of mousse. Repeat the layers of cake, cherries, and mouse. Reserve 5 to 9 cherries for garnish.
11. Spread a layer of whipped cream over the top and garnish with the remaining cherries, along with chocolate shavings (if desired).