Strawberry Cheesecake Trifles

In my intense determination to turn that sow’s ear of a Kentucky Butter Cake into a silk purse, figuratively speaking, I decided to take the globs of it that had fallen off in chunks during my attempt to extricate it from the pan, and make a couple of individual strawberry trifles. Success!

This is the easiest dessert in the world to prepare for which I have no particular recipe, but will try to do my best in offering one. Essentially, you alternate layers of liqueur-drizzled pound cake (of your own choosing), sweetened strawberries, and pudding.

It must be made ahead in order for everything to become fully saturated with juice from the strawberries, pudding, and to allow the liqueur to settle nicely into the cake. This recipe only makes three servings, because that is how far I could stretch the pudding. If you want to make more, just double, triple, or quadruple the recipe. Imagine what a fun dessert this would be to have stored in the cooler during a summer outing. Just pass the jars and pass the spoons. Delish!

Strawberry Cheesecake Trifles

1-1/2 cups sliced strawberries

1-2 Tablespoons sugar

Zest of one orange

1 3.4-ounce pkg. Jell-O Instant Cheesecake Pudding

2 cups whole milk

1 pound cake, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1/4-1/3 cup Triple Sec (or any orange liqueur)

Spritz of whipped cream for garnish

You will need: 3 clean pint jars with lids

Place sliced strawberries into a medium bowl and add the sugar and zest. Stir to combine, and set aside to allow them to macerate.

Mix together the pudding mix and milk, whisking mightily until the pudding thickens. Place in refrigerator until needed.

Meanwhile, divide half of the pound cake cubes among the three jars. Drizzle the pound cake in each jar with about a tablespoon of Triple Sec, and lightly press down.

Give the strawberries a stir, and add a layer of them on top of the pound cake layer in each jar. Shake jar a bit to settle.

Top the strawberries with a healthy dollop of pudding, turning jar until all of the strawberries are covered.

Repeat the whole pound cake/strawberry/pudding thing one more time.

Put the lids on top of the jars and store in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or, ideally, overnight.

Serve topped with a dollop of whipped cream and pinch of orange zest, if desired.

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Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Kentucky Butter Cake

I learned two things over the weekend. First, I really love Cookies and Cups’ recipe for Kentucky Butter Cake and, second, I do not, in a BIG way, like Nordicware's cathedral style Bundt pan.

The cake, slightly adapted by Cookies and Cups from Allrecipes.com is an easy to make, totally delicious, dense and buttery cake that, admiringly, only gets better with age. We enjoyed ours for dessert, but my guess is that it would make an excellent brunch cake, and I am about to find out if it makes for a good trifle.

As far as preparation, it just could not be easier, as everything is dumped into a mixing bowl and then beaten together all at once. I initially balked at this, hearkening back to my old Home Ec days when butter and sugar was supposed to be creamed together before adding flour, and then flour and buttermilk was to be added alternately, but I followed the directions to the letter and the cake was divine.

And this brings me to the wretched Bundt pan that, having now tried five times, has yet to result in a full cake. Yes, I greased. Yes, I floured. More than I should have, in fact, and still, the proper use of this pan ended up yielding a cake that looked like this. You can only imagine the difficulty in photographing this one.

Initially, after my fifth failure, I'd placed the pan into the donation box, but then I thought that a bit of a cruelty. I mean, this thing is a menace to society. Why inflict it on anyone else? And so, into the recycle bin it went, hopefully giving it new life as, I don't know, a cookie sheet, or something.

Needless to say, it is back to my vintage tube pan for the next cake, or perhaps a spring-form pan, or maybe even just a simple loaf pan. The cake is well worth trying, the pan, well, run from it!

Kentucky Butter Cake

Cookies & Cups

1 cup butter, cubed at room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

Butter Glaze

1/3 cup butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Grease a 10” Bundt pan with butter or shortening very liberally. Dust the pan with flour and set aside.

Place all the cake ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low for 30 seconds and then increase the speed to medium and mix for 3 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 65-75 minutes until a toothpick entered into the center comes out clean.

When the cake is done make the glaze. Combine all ingredients into a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir continuously until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Do not bring to a boil.

Poke holes all over the warm cake using a knife and pour the glaze evenly on the cake while still in the pan.

Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan and then invert the cake onto a serving plate.

 This post is linked to:

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