Double Chocolate Pear Trifle Food

CHOCOLATE AND PEAR TRIFLE

Steps:

• Cut the ready-made chocolate pound cake into 1-inch cubes.
• You should have about 8 cups.
• Set aside.
• To prepare the custard: In a medium size heavy saucepan, stir the sugar, flour, ground nutmeg and salt.
• Gradually stir in the milk, egg yolks and vanilla extract.
• Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly.
• Cook and stir for 2 minutes more.
• Remove from heat.
• Pour into a bowl.
• Cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4-6 hours.
• To prepare the pears: Stir the wine, 1/3 cup sugar, lemon peel, ground nutmeg, and ground cinnamon in large skillet.
• Cook over low heat, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar.
• Bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low.
• Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes or until reduced by half.
• Add the sliced pear wedges to wine mixture, stir gently to coat.
• Bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover.
• Simmer for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the pears are tender.
• Remove the pears from the skillet with slotted spoon and discard any cooking liguid.
• Cover and refrigerate the pears for 4-24 hours.
• Putting the trifle together: Place half of the chocolate pound cake cubes in the bottom of glass trifle bowl.
• Pour half of the cooled custard sauce over the cake and half of the spiced pears over the custard.
• Repeat layering the trifle with remaining chocolate pound cake cubes, custard sauce and pears.
• Cover and refrigerate for 4-6 hours.
• Right before you are ready to serve the trifle, remove from refrigerator, and garnish top of trifle with whipped cream, grated chocolate, and maraschino or candied cherries.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PEAR TRIFLE

Steps:

• For the cake, preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line a baking tray (11-x-17-inches/28-x-43-cm) with parchment paper, but do not grease the pan.
• Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl or into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter cutting it in (if in a large bowl, use electric beaters) until the mixture is a fine crumble (like the texture of fine breadcrumbs) and no large pieces of butter are visible.
• Stir the hot coffee, milk and vanilla together and add it all at once to the flour mixture, blending until smooth. Break the eggs into a small dish and stir them with a fork and then add them to the batter, again blending on medium speed just until smooth (the batter will be very fluid). Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly and bake for about 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan.
• For the white chocolate pastry cream, heat the milk with the scraped seeds of the vanilla bean or the vanilla bean paste until just below a simmer.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Ready a bowl with the white chocolate and butter, placing a strainer on top of it.
• Gradually whisk the hot milk into egg mixture and then return it all to the pot. Whisk this constantly (switching to a spatula now and again, to get into the corners) over medium heat until thickened and glossy, about 2 minutes. Pour this immediately through the strainer, whisking it through if needed, and stir in the white chocolate and butter. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the surface of the custard, cool to room temperature and then chill completely until ready to use.
• For the poached pears, peel the pears, cut them in half, core them and remove the stems. Bring the water, sugar, lemon juice and scraped seeds from the vanilla bean (or vanilla bean paste) up to a full boil. Add the pears and cover them directly on the surface of the liquid with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the pot (called a cartouche). Return the pears to a gentle simmer and simmer for 10 minutes. Then remove the pot from the heat and let the pears cool to room temperature in the syrup before chilling until ready to assemble.
• For the ganache, heat ½ cup (125 mL) of the whipping cream to a simmer and pour this over the chocolate in a small bowl. Gently stir the mixture until the ganache is smooth and cool to room temperature. Whip the remaining 1 cup (250 mL) of cream with the sugar and chill until ready to assemble.
• To assemble, have ready a 12-cup (3 L) trifle bowl or glass vessel. Turn the chocolate cake out onto a cutting board, peel away the parchment paper and cut 3 to 4 pieces of cake that are the size of your trifle bowl. Remove the pears from the vanilla syrup (but save the syrup for brushing onto the cake) and cut them into ½-inch (12 mm) slices, saving one pear half for the top of the trifle.
• Start by placing a layer of cake in the bottom of the bowl. Brush this generously with vanilla syrup and top the cake with a layer of the white chocolate pastry cream. Drizzle the cream with a little chocolate ganache and arrange pear slices overtop. Repeat this with the cake, syrup, cream and pear until the cake layers are used and you've finished with a layer of pear slices. Top this with the whipped cream, and chocolate shavings. Slice the final pear half so that it fans out from the stem and place this on top. Chill the trifle until ready to serve.

PAMPERED CHEF DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MOCHA TRIFLE

Steps:

• Prepare/Bake brownies according to cake-like directions.
• Cool completely.
• In separate bowl, whisk pudding mix with milk until it begins to thicken (or mix with mixer--i like to use my Kitchen Aid mixer).
• Dissolve coffee granules with warm water, then add to pudding mixture, mixing well.
• Fold in whipped topping.
• Cut brownies into 1 inch cubes.
• Layer 1/3 of brownie cubes into bowl, top with 1/3 of pudding mixture, pressing lightly, and 1/3 of chopped toffee.
• Repeat layers 2 more times.
• Chill 30 minutes before serving.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• For the crust: Pulse the graham crackers in a food processor or crush in a resealable plastic bag until they are fine crumbs. Add the crumbs to a bowl and stir in the melted butter and sugar. Press the mixture into a pie pan and bake until set, about 4 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
• For the filling: Stir together the cornstarch, sugar and salt in a large saucepan over medium heat. Pour in the milk and beaten egg yolks. Cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate, butter and vanilla. Pour the chocolate filling into the cooled shell until it's filled to the brim. (You may have some left over.) Smooth the top of the pie, then gently press a piece of wax paper over the filling and chill until set, 3 to 4 hours. Store any leftover filling covered in the fridge for another use or snacking.
• For the meringue: Add the sugar, corn syrup, 2 tablespoons water and a pinch of salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved completely. Remove from the heat.
• Add the egg whites to the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the cream of tartar and the remaining pinch salt and continue beating for 30 seconds. With the machine running on medium speed, drizzle the hot syrup mixture into the mixing bowl in a constant stream, then turn the speed to high and whip until the mixture forms stiff peaks (about 3 minutes).
• Remove the chilled pie from the fridge and discard the wax paper. Spread the meringue over the top of the chilled pie, making sure to get it to the edges. With the back of a spoon, lightly press into the meringue, lifting the spoon away, to create peaks. Toast the meringue with a brulee torch to the desired color. Slice and serve.

CHOCOLATE TRIFLE

Steps:

• Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and cool completely. Cut into 1 inch squares.
• In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in 8 ounces whipped topping until no streaks remain.
• In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish, place half of the brownies, half of the pudding mixture and half of the 12 ounce container of whipped topping. Repeat layers. Shave chocolate onto top layer for garnish. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving.