Italian Cream Cake Trifle, this is the most amazing trifle! Layers of classic fluffy Italian Cream Cake combined with delicious layers of creamy pudding, pecans and coconut will bring smiles to everyone who eats this!
Italian Cream Cake Trifle my oh my! What a fantastic dessert! This Italian Cream Cake Trifle is the trifle of all trifles!
Sally has created this trifle based on her lovely Italian Cream Cake recipe.
Her family and friends absolutely love the cake so Sally decided she would make a Italian Cream Cake Trifle using the cake ingredients. It was a sure hit! Sally made 2 trifles to take along to a gathering and they were devoured in no time. Everyone was asking for her recipe and said it was like nothing else they had tried before!
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This recipe is one which you can make a couple of days ahead and simply assemble on the day of serving. It's a show stopper so if you wanted to impress your diners, this is the one!
It is very easy to make, but people will really think you spent ages making it!
The hardest part is just waiting a few hours for the trifle to chill a little, although that isn't essential, if you have no patience or you're just drooling too much, simply grab a spoon and dig in as soon as you make it!
It really is a wonderful dessert, suitable for any occasion so let's get straight to the recipe and see how we make Sally's Italian Cream Cake Trifle. Please do enjoy!
Recipe by Sally Hall
Prep Time
20 - 30 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Yield
10 - 12 Persons
Ingredients
The Cake
¼ cup room temperature Butter
¼ cup Butter flavored shortening (or use butter)
1 ¼ cups Sugar
3 medium Eggs
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
dash of Salt
1 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour
½ cup Buttermilk *
(if you don’t have buttermilk on hand, take ½ cup whole milk and add 1
teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice)
¾ cups Coconut shredded
½ cup chopped Pecans
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
The Pudding
1 small box of French Vanilla Instant Pudding
1 ¾ cups milk
1 eight oz container of Mascarpone Cheese
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 small container of Cool Whip or whipped topping.
The Topping
1 sixteen ounce package of shredded coconut -toasted
1 ½ cups of chopped pecans -toasted.
Instructions
Make the cake
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9-inch cake pan. (if you have any batter left over, simply pop in a couple of cupcake liners).
2. Cream butter and butter flavored shortening until smooth. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time, just until the yellow disappears. Mix for about 30 seconds more.
3. Combine flour, baking soda and dash of salt. Set aside.
4. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture (above) to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Now add ½ of the buttermilk. Mix well. Add another ⅓ of the flour mixture, rest of the buttermilk, then last of the flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. (i.e. flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour) Add the vanilla & mix well.
5. Stir in the remaining ingredients, coconut and pecans. Pour evenly into the greased and floured cake pan.
6. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and remove from pans. Let cool completely.
Make the pudding
7. Mix the Instant pudding with the milk and allow to set. This should only take 5 - 10 minutes.
8. In a separate bowl, mix the mascarpone and sweetened condensed milk well until smooth. The instant pudding should now be set; add this to the mascarpone mixture and mix well. Now fold in the Cool Whip and refrigerate until ready to assemble.
Build the Trifle
9. Break up the cake (you can just use your hands) so it is in small pieces or large crumbs). Then assemble and layer starting with cake, pudding, coconut and pecans, repeat 1-2 times. If you end with pudding and toasted coconut sprinkled on top you can cover with plastic and it comes off fairly clean.
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our Italian Cream Cake Trifle recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!
Recipe Card
Italian Cream Cake Trifle
Italian Cream Cake Trifle, this is the most amazing trifle! Layers of classic fluffy Italian Cream Cake combined with delicious layers of creamy pudding, pecans and coconut will bring smiles to everyone who eats this!
Ingredients
The Cake:
- ¼ cup room temperature Butter
- ¼ cup Butter flavored shortening, or use butter
- 1 ¼ cups Sugar
- 3 medium Eggs
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- dash of Salt
- 1 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour
- ½ cup Buttermilk *
- t (if you don’ have buttermilk on hand, take ½ cup whole milk and add 1
- teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice)
- ¾ cups Coconut shredded
- ½ cup chopped Pecans
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
The Pudding:
- 1 small box of French Vanilla Instant Pudding
- 1 ¾ cups milk
- 1 oz eight container of Mascarpone Cheese
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 small container of Cool Whip or whipped topping.
The Topping:
- 1 ounce sixteen package of shredded coconut -toasted
- 1 ½ cups of chopped pecans -toasted.
Instructions
Make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9 inch cake pan. (if you have any batter left over, simply pop in a couple of cup cake liners).
- Cream butter and butter flavored shortening until smooth. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time, just until the yellow disappears. Mix for about 30 seconds more.
- Combine flour, baking soda and dash of salt. Set aside.
- Add ⅓ of the flour mixture (above) to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Now add ½ of the buttermilk. Mix well. Add another ⅓ of the flour mixture, rest of the buttermilk, then last of the flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. (i.e. flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour) Add the vanilla & mix well.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients, coconut and pecans. Pour evenly into the greased and floured cake pan.
- Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and remove from pans. Let cool completely.
Make the pudding:
- Mix the Instant pudding with the milk and allow to set. This should only take 5 - 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix the mascarpone and sweetened condensed milk well until smooth. The instant pudding should now be set; add this to the mascarpone mixture and mix well. Now fold in the Cool Whip and refrigerate until ready to assemble.
Build the Trifle:
- Break up the cake (you can just use your hands) so it is in small pieces or large crumbs).Then assemble and layer starting with cake, pudding, coconut and pecans, repeat 1-2 times. If you end with pudding and toasted coconut sprinkled on top you can cover with plastic and it comes off fairly clean.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1037Total Fat: 68gSaturated Fat: 45gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 96mgSodium: 650mgCarbohydrates: 103gFiber: 14gSugar: 69gProtein: 12g
Delicious Trifle Recipes
Here's a selection of delicious trifles for you to enjoy!
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Blueberry and Lemon Trifle. This is just sublime! Layers of fresh Lemon Cake, Creamy Custard and Whipped Cream and of course a generous sprinkling of blueberries throughout.
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Layers Of Creamy Smooth Vanilla Pudding Layered Between Juicy Blueberries On A Bed Of Coconut-Infused Lady's Fingers And Then Covered With A Wonderful Dreamy Whipped Cream Topping
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Easy Banana Cream Cake Trifle is amazing! Delicious layers of creamy custard, bananas and homemade banana bread, topped off with freshly whipped cream and a sprinkling of white chocolate. Simply delicious!
Easy Strawberry and Coconut Trifle. An incredibly easy and great tasting dessert sure to please!
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Red Velvet Trifle, a delicious chilled dessert with layers of homemade red velvet cake and fresh whipped cream. A popular party dessert and great for Christmas.
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Judy Tortorich
says:It should read cream not crime!!
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Judy, just wrap the cake right in plastic wrap or an air tight container and refrigerate. It will stop it from drying out! Happy Christmas!
Judy Tortorich
says:Thanks for quick response! Merry Christmas .
Judy Tortorich
says:I made the cake today but am going to assemble tomorrow. How should I store the cake?
The crime is delicious!!
Kathi McCord
says:Sounds like my kind of recipe! I’m thinking of letting the cake dry out a bit and then sprinkling it with a bit of bourbon as I layer the ingredients. :)
Susan
says:Is it just one cake pan? Later in the directions it says remove from pans.
lil
says:you do not mention the size can of milk or cool whip
Margie McPherson
says:One can of milk comes in 12 oz, one size and it says small would you be what 8 oz Cool Whip
Debbie Pico
says:Is there another nut that I can use instead of the pecans?
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Debbie, I would suggest walnuts as being a very close swap for the pecans. Please enjoy. It’s a yummy recipe!
Margie McPherson
says:Hi Debbie my family is making this for years and you can use any kind of not you’d like almonds walnuts, hazelnuts whatever you like
Alyce Netz
says:II can’t wait to make this. What size bowl did you use in the picture? If I have to purchase a bowl what size should I get? One person stated a 9″ cake was not enough. Is the typical. Thank you.
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Alyce, The size bowl is a large one, holding around 12 liquid cups. Hope that helps and Happy Christmas to you and your family!
Diane Stirk
says:Hi – is this best prepared on the day of or can I make it a day ahead of event?
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Diane, the day before will be absolutely fine. Happy Thanksgiving!
Diane Stirk
says:Thank you! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Jennifer Bailey
says:Amazing recipe and definite crowd pleaser! I have made this several times and wouldn’t change a thing. I do find that I have to bake the cake about 40 minutes though, but that’s just my oven. Thanks for sharing, definitely one of my favs!
Nancy
says:I think I would like to take a huge short cut and buy a angel food cake to use…would that have similar result??
Christa
says:No, that wouldn’t be similar at all. They are 2 different cakes.
Daren
says:Is the coconut sweetened or unsweetened?
Rose
says:For this recipe, could you substitute a diabetic sweetener for real sugar? I’m always searching for these type of recipes for my husband. (Italian cream cake trifle)
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Rose,
I haven’t had any feedback so far from anyone using sweetener for this recipe, however, if you are used to substituting in your baking, then I would say give it a go! I am sure it will be fine, and please do pop back and let us know if you get to try it with your swap!
Thanks
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Daren, either will be fine. Choose what you prefer :)
Colleen Senor
says:It was very good and yes, a show stopper. However, one cake was not enough. I had to make two, but would say I only used 1 1/2. There was more than plenty of the pudding to accomodate two cakes though. If I were to make it again, I would use less sugar in the cake; 1 cup would have been plenty. Thanks for the recipe.
AJ
says:We made two of these for my son’s fiancée’s bridal shower yesterday. Luscious completion to a complete Italian meal! We didn’t change anything except cutting back on the coconut by just one cup to accommodate the size of the trifle bowls we have and using just half the mascarpone because our grocer had a limited supply and other three in our area did not carry it. Even so, it was delicious & the filling set up well
Lovefoodies
says:Hi AJ,
Thanks so much for your feedback and so happy your trifles were a success!
Tara Vance
says:You say 1/2 cup buttermilk in ingredients, and direct to add 1/2 cup buttermilk when mixing with 1/3 flour mixture, and then say to add the rest of the buttermilk. How much buttermilk altogether?
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Tara, thanks for writing in. It is a total of 1/2 cup buttermilk. The instructions should read add half of the buttermilk with flour then add the remaining buttermilk, (to avoid the cake batter from splitting if added all in one go). I have made the instructions a little clearer so I hope it helps! Thanks for pointing it out!
Renee Chaney
says:can i buy the frosting from the grocery store, Iltalian frosting?