Cake

Nutella Coconut Trifle

October 31, 2020 0

A little over a year ago, my sister Katherine asked me to re-create a Nutella and coconut cake she’d had in Italy. She had a sample picture and described the cake to me as a two layered Nutella cake with a coconut filling with a chocolate ganache like frosting.  So I crafted a Nutella cake recipe, and a coconut mousse (pudding lightened with whipped cream).  I made a tester cake a week before her birthday, however, the cake was too crumbly – incredibly soft and moist, but crumbly nonetheless.  My Aunt Karen suggested I use the crumbled cake bits and make trifle.  Soft, Nutella cake, layered with coconut mousse, shredded coconut and chocolate ganache. Nutella Coconut Trifle was born!  I’m sure someone, somewhere has made something similar, but here’s my recipe.

TIP: I like to make them as single serving cups – this way the ratio of cake, mousse and ganache is just right. Also, it’s incredibly rich, so when I say single serving cups, I’m talking about those little, 9 oz plastic cups – enough room for two layers of everything!

Nutella Coconut Trifle
~20-24 servings

Nutella Cake Ingredients
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup (296 grams) Nutella
1 cup milk

Coconut Mousse Ingredients
2 small boxes vanilla pudding (3.4 oz. each)
1 ¾ cups milk
1 ½ teaspoons coconut extract
1 ¾ cups heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients
20 ounces chocolate chips
1 ¼ cup heavy cream

2-3 cups shredded coconut

Nutella Cake Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease 2 – 9″ round baking pans and line with parchment paper.
  2. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, beat the butter until creamy, about 2 minutes.  Add sugar to the butter and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated.
  4. Add the Nutella and mix until completely incorporated.
  5. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.  Add ½ the milk, mixing until just incorporated. Continue with another third of the flour, the other half of the milk and end with the rest of the flour.
  6. Divide evenly into the prepared pans and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Remove cakes from the oven and while cooling, prepare the mousse.

Coconut Mousse Directions

  1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the vanilla pudding packets with the milk. It will be quite thick.
  2. In another medium sized bowl, beat the heavy cream and coconut extract until soft peaks form.  Add the powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
  3. Fold the whipped cream into the pudding, ⅓ at a time.  Once completely mixed, keep in the fridge until ready to assemble the trifles.

Chocolate Ganache Directions

  1. In a 4-cup microwave safe dish, heat the heavy cream and chocolate chips in 4 – 30 second intervals, stirring between sets.  Once the chocolate chips have melted, carefully whisk the mixture until combined – it will be glossy.
  2. Set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Nutella Coconut Trifle Assembly

  1. Gather your cups, goblets, bowls, trifle dish, etc.  Anything that is clear will work, and look, great!
  2. Press in a layer of crumbled cake, a spoonful (or two) of mousse, a generous sprinkling of coconut, and pour on the ganache. Repeat until your serving dish is full, finishing with the ganache. Garnish the top with a little bit of shredded coconut.

Serve immediately or store in the fridge until ready to consume.  If refrigerated, take it out about 15-20 minutes before you’re ready to eat it so the ganache can soften up.

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