Connie's Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake & Brownie Trifle

Connie

To make the trifle, you'll need the following 6 layers:

1. Red Velvet Cake

2. Connie's Gluten Free Brownies

3. Cream Cheese Sauce

4. Fudge Sauce

5. Chopped & Toasted Pecans

6. Freshly Whipped Cream

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

1 3/4 cups Cup4Cup flour
¾ tsp. salt
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups oil
1 cup buttermilk (or make your own with 1 tbsp. lemon juice in 1 cup of milk; let stand 5 minutes)
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. ed food dye powder or 1/2 tsp red gel-paste food dye
1 ½ tsps. baking soda
2 tsps. vinegar

Beat cream cheese, sugar and ½ cup whipping cream at medium speed with electric mixture until creamy.
Beat the other remaining 2 cups of whipping cream (sweetened with *2-4 tbsp. powdered sugar & 1 tsp. vanilla) with mixer until soft peaks form. Fold into cheese mixture. *Adjust the amount of powdered sugar & vanilla to your liking.

In 1 quart saucepan, cook over medium heat until mixture is smooth and boils, set aside.

Preheat oven to 350. Line 8×8 pan with heavy duty aluminum foil, lightly buttered. Set aside.
Melt butter and chocolate mixture in a small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Set aside to cool.
Use a stand mixer to whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth. This should take 2 minutes or less.
Add cocoa powder, corn starch and salt. Blend until well combined. Scrape down the sides as you go. Add melted chocolate.
Pour into prepared pan and smooth out the top with a spreader.
Bake for 23 – 28 minutes. Check middle with a toothpick. Do not overbake. Remember the brownies will continue to bake after coming out of the oven.
Cool completely in the pan for 10 -15 minutes.
Carefully remove by lifting foil “handles” and continue cooling on a wire rack.

Heat oven to 350°F. To make red velvet cake for Connie’s trifle dessert, you can use a greased 9×13 pan. Otherwise, butter or spray two 9” round pans.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and cocoa; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and oil, and beat on medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add food dye and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
In a small bowl, mix baking soda and vinegar until combined. Add to batter, and beat for 10 seconds. Evenly divide batter between the prepared pans. If making cupcakes, filling each cup about 2/3 of the way up. You may use an offset spatula to smooth down the batter into the liners.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cake(s) in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from the pans, and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a trifle bowl, deep glass bowl or individual “parfait” type glasses, start out by layering red velvet cake on the bottom. You can cut these in heart shapes if you like. Use the extra cake for filling in cracks.
Add chunks of Connie’s G/F Brownies to the bottom along with the red velvet cake
Spread a layer of cream cheese sauce over cake.
Sprinkle pecans, add raspberries (optional)
Drizzle chocolate sauce (don’t go overboard)
Continue layering the cake, brownies, cream cheese sauce, pecans and chocolate drizzle. You may end up with 3 layers depending upon how much you used for each layer.
Top off the Trifle with freshly whipped heavy organic cream sweetened with powdered sugar & vanilla.
Garnish with raspberries around the edge of the bowl, mint leaves and heart cut out brownies and / or red velvet cake in the center.

Keyword brownies, brunch, dessert, glutenfree, trifle