Strawberries+Cream Fudge Brownie Trifle (Vegan)

Happy weekend my peeps, and it couldn’t have come at a better time I think.

Any fun plans? My schedule will probably involve lots of packing and planning for San Diego. It wasn’t part of the original trip plans but it looks like I’ll be in Cali for Valentine’s Day this year. Ironically I was in London for this past Halloween so maybe I’m starting a bit of a self-trend to be abroad during holidays.

Hey, that’s totally fine with me for any holiday with the possible exception of Christmas (because you guys know I’m a Christmas freak and I couldn’t imagine not being home for the holidays) I’ll gladly take traveling over being at home. Hmmm, where might I be for Easter! Who can say?

Ok, but travel talk aside, let’s talk about this dessert.

As you can probably imagine, I typically end up with more than a few leftovers from all my recipe testing successes and fails (yes that happens to me too). Anyway, I’ve always had a pet-peeve with wastefulness, but living in a foreign country strengthened that feeling because things were harder to get there so when it got wasted it was much more noticeable. However, I think no matter where you are, it’s a good thing to always try to reduce waste when it’s possible (and no, I’m not about to go all “save the planet” on you). Just good habits to live by.

That’s why one of my favorite things to make behind the scenes of blogging are delicious treats made up of different layers of whatever I’ve got at the time. Typically I’ll use things like fruit, crumbs from baked goods, and yogurt and/or whipped cream. This is definitely not an original concept either. There are quite a few different versions of this type of treat like the traditional English desserts, eton mess, strawberry fool, and yes, trifles.

In my house I’ll normally just call it a parfait because that’s what’s familiar, but I find it pretty hilarious when I serve it in a trifle dish and so many people in my family think this is called a “truffle” despite my continuous corrections. My point is that these desserts all have the same thing in common. Layers of different flavors and textures coming together to create something delicious, and really I could have just been describing a cake. See, not so different. The key is to making it look delicious, because come on, we all eat with our eyes on some level right?

So I can’t exactly name a date, but I know I’ve wanted a trifle dish from the early days of food blogging. Actually, I’ve wanted one for much longer probably. The first few years after I started sharing recipes I searched everywhere I could when I was prop shopping in Chile to find one, but no luck. It was just a few weeks ago that I stumbled across one and got so excited and just had to buy it. It’s just so much more fun to serve this dessert in a beautiful dish this way.

And yes, clearly I created this recipe with Valentine’s Day in mind because nothing says romance quite like strawberries and chocolate, right? I chose to do brownies for this particular recipe because I just thought it was a little more fitting for the season, but come Summertime I’ll be layering all the berries with light and fluffy sponge cakes, I’m sure.

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Strawberries+Cream Fudge Brownie Trifle

Nothing goes together quite like berries and cream. Add in some chocolate and you've got one of the best treats on earth.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

Whipped Cream:

• 2 1/2 cups coconut cream very cold *see note (about 2 cans)
• 1/2 cup granular sugar

Cream Layer:

• 6 ounces vegan "cream cheese" softened
• 2/3 cup plain non-dairy yogurt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 box prepared brownie mix or recipe follows
• 1 pound fresh strawberries stemmed and slices (save a few with leaves for top)
• heart shaped or any shape non-dairy chocolate for top (optional)

Brownies:

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup organic vegetable shortening or oil
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup non-dairy chocolate chunks

Instructions

Coconut Whipped Cream:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat the cream until it forms soft peaks. Reduce speed to low and pour in the sugar. Beat on high until it forms stiff peaks. Scrape the whipped cream into a separate bowl and set aside.

Cream Cheese Layer:

1. Add the "cream cheese" to mixing bowl and beat until completely smooth. Add the 1/4 cup sugar and yogurt and continue beating until smooth. Mix in vanilla, then fold in about 3 cups of the whipped cream, reserving the rest.

Assembling the Trifle:

1. Cut the prepared brownies into small cubes and place a layer of them in a trifle dish or individual jars. Next layer the fresh strawberries, cream cheese mixture, and remaining whipped cream in repeating layers until the dish or jars are full. Top with additional whipped cream and if desired add some whole strawberries and chocolates to garnish.
2. If not serving immediately, cover and place in fridge to chill.

Brownies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C) and grease an 8x8 inch square pan with oil.
2. In a small saucepan set over low heat, stir oil with sugar and cocoa powder while whisking. Once warm, remove from heat and scrape into a medium bowl then stir in baking powder, espresso powder, salt, and vanilla until combined. Add the coconut milk then the flour and stir in until smooth.
3. Pour the batter into prepared pan and sprinkle chocolate chips over the batter evenly. Bake the brownies for 18 - 24 minutes until the center doesn't jiggle when the pan is nudged (you can also check center with a toothpick and see if it comes out clean). Remove from oven and cool for about 10 minutes before cutting.

Recipe Notes

If you have trouble finding coconut cream at your local grocery store it's completely fine to use full-fat coconut milk and scrape the cream off of the top. Just be sure that it's cold enough to separate. Also, even if using full cream you'll still need to separate the cream from the clear liquid at the bottom of the can.