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Chocolate Turtle Trifle

12/31/2018 by Erin Leave a Comment

Chocolate turtle trifle - layers of chocolate cake, homemade caramel mousse, pecans, caramel drizzle, and whipped cream make this one amazing dessert that feeds a crowd!

For the past several years, it’s been a Christmas Day tradition to create a new trifle to eat with our dinner.  This year’s trifle was chocolate turtle.  The blissful combination of chocolate, caramel, and pecans can never steer you wrong when it comes to dessert.

Chocolate turtle trifle - layers of chocolate cake, homemade caramel mousse, pecans, caramel drizzle, and whipped cream make this one amazing dessert that feeds a crowd!

Trifles look so pretty in a big glass bowl.  There are a million different possibilities for flavor ideas, and they easily feed a crowd.

Chocolate turtle trifle - layers of chocolate cake, homemade caramel mousse, pecans, caramel drizzle, and whipped cream make this one amazing dessert that feeds a crowd!

Layers of chocolate cake (or brownies), a homemade caramel mousse, drizzles of caramel, and toasted pecans.  So good!

Chocolate turtle trifle - layers of chocolate cake, homemade caramel mousse, pecans, caramel drizzle, and whipped cream make this one amazing dessert that feeds a crowd!

Go ahead and dig in with a big ol’ spoon, because there won’t be much of this leftover for later!  Enjoy!

Chocolate Turtle Trifle
Print
Author: Erin Browne
Ingredients
  • 1 box chocolate cake mix, prepared and cooled (see notes)
  • 3 TBS plus ¾ cup water
  • 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
  • 2¾ cups sugar
  • 2 TBS light corn syrup
  • 1¾ cups heavy cream
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1 16oz container frozen whipped topping, thawed
  • Approximately 1¼ cups chopped pecans
Instructions
  1. Make Caramel Mousse: Add sugar, corn syrup, and ¾ cup water in a large saucepan. Stir gently over medium heat until the sugar completely dissolves.
  2. Increase the heat to a rolling boil and allow to cook, without stirring, until the mixture is a deep amber color.
  3. Remove from heat and add 1¾ cups of heavy cream and the stick of butter while whisking constantly. BE CAREFUL! The mixture will bubble and steam vigorously.
  4. Return pan to low heat and stir until any crystallized bits have dissolved. In the meantime, add the 3 TBS of water to a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Allow to soften for one minute and then mix together.
  5. Pour 1½ cups of the caramel mixture into a glass measuring cup and set aside. Add the gelatin water mixture to the remaining hot caramel in the pan, stir to combine, and allow both containers of caramel to cool to room temperature.
  6. Pour the 1½ cups of cooled caramel into a mixing bowl and carefully fold in ¾ of the whipped topping. Make sure you work gently and thoroughly combine the topping with the caramel. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until fully set (1-3 hours).
  7. Toast the Pecans: While the mousse is setting up, heat a large skillet over medium heat, add the pecans and toss them around until they darken in color and start to give off a rich fragrance. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
  8. Assemble the trifle: In a large glass trifle bowl, cover the bottom with small pieces of the chocolate cake (or brownies, if using), cover with half of the chocolate mousse, sprinkle with some of the toasted pecans, and drizzle generously with some of the leftover caramel. Repeat the layers again, and then finish the top of the trifle with the remaining whipped topping, pecans, and more caramel drizzle.
Notes
You can choose to use a pan of brownies instead of a cake mix if you'd like a more dense, fudgy texture. Either the cake or brownies will work great, it's just a texture preference!

You will have extra leftover caramel after using a portion for the mousse and a portion for drizzling between the trifle layers. Store it in the refrigerator and use it however you wish - as an ice cream topping or in other caramel desserts.
3.5.3208

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Chocolate turtle trifle - layers of chocolate cake, homemade caramel mousse, pecans, caramel drizzle, and whipped cream make this one amazing dessert that feeds a crowd!

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Dark Chocolate Mint Trifle - A homemade white chocolate mint mousse is layered with dark chocolate cake and chocolate mint cookies - one of my favorite easy trifles.Dark Chocolate Mint Trifle Chocolate Cookie Cheesecake Trifle German Chocolate Cake Trifle - one of my favorite semi-homemade desserts using a cake mix combined with scratch made German chocolate mousse and coconut pecan filling.German Chocolate Cake Trifle Dark Chocolate Caramel Popcorn (Moose Munch Copycat) Caramel apple spice cake with caramel cream cheese frosting, garnished with crushed Speculoos cookies!Caramel Apple Spice Cake When you need chocolate NOW! This dead simple dark chocolate hot fudge pudding cake recipe uses easy ingredients you likely already have in your pantry. It makes its own warm hot fudge sauce as it bakes!Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge Pudding Cake This impossibly moist and fudgy dark chocolate cake is baked with red wine and covered with a dark chocolate red wine ganache. It's scaled down to a cute 6-inch cake, so it's a perfect dessert for two!Red Wine Dark Chocolate Cake For Two Triple Chocolate Salted Tart

Filed Under: Cakes 'n Pies, Food, Holidays, Pudding 'n Mousse, Sweet 'n Sinful Tagged With: caramel, chocolate, mousse, pecans, trifle, turtle

About Erin

Erin is a mom of two human babies and two fur-covered babies. She loves comfy pajamas, eats too much peanut butter, and watches excessive amounts of Netflix. Make her day and toss her a like on Facebook or follow her on Instagram.

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Hi, I'm Erin, and I blog about fun things! I cook food for my family and share the recipes here. We also like to camp, so there will be a fair bit about that around here, too.

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