Recipe: Black Forest Trifle

My mother has been making these trifles for years now. Traditionally, they have been made and served in a homemade glass bowl cut from the bottom of a gallon wine bottle. The first truffle I remember was created for a Summer Solstice Party I went to for the Hastings County Druid Society in June, 1978. This particular recipe was developed for a net.goth Winter Solstice Party in December, 1996.

Black Forest Trifle


  • Chocolate (angel food) chiffon cake, or chocolate cake of any kind (pre-baked)
  • Chocolate instant pudding
  • Milk (for the pudding)
  • 1 can of cherry pie filling
  • 1 package of whipped topping (eg. Dream Whip™ or Cool Whip™)
  • marischino cherries (if desired)
  • Kirsch or cherry schnaaps
  • Jell-O™ Berry Black™ jelly powder
  • cocoa powder or powdered chocolate

    1. Prepare the Jell-O™ Berry Black™ jelly powder using a little less water than called for on the package. For example, if the package calls for 2 cups of water, use only 1.5 cups. This is to make the jelly a little stiffer than normal. Pour into a square cake pan to set. When set, cut the jelly into small (1-inch) cubes.
    2. Cut the cake into small (1-inch) cubes.
    3. Sprinkle Kirsch or schnaaps on the cake.
    4. Fill the bottom of the bowl with a layer of cake.
    5. Layer on half the pie filling.
    6. Add a layer of jelly cubes.
    7. Repeat layers.
    8. Top with last third of cake cubes.
    9. Cover with a thick layer of topping.
    10. Decorate with chocolate curls, or a sprinkling of cocoa, and marischino cherries.

    Jell-O™ Berry Black™ is the only brand of black-coloured jelly powder currently available.

    This web page is maintained by Mike Jourard using HTML Notepad from cranial software.
    Last modified on February 12, 1997. Converted to dot-com web site on February 18, 2000. Copyright © 1997,2000 by Badinage Publications. All rights reserved.