Tiramisu Trifle with Brown Sugar Cake, Chocolate Cream and Strawberries

 This began as a mistake.  A Dorie Greenspan recipe, which can be found in Baking: From My Home to Yours, for Brown Sugar Bundt Cake.  It was okay, though in the unmolding, quite a bit stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Not a thing of beauty, and as these things can happen, sat around for a few days.  So, yes a trifle (ha ha) stale.

I had been wanting an excuse to make Trifle, and this was it.  As well as another use for my Margarita glasses.  Not that they don't get enough use.  Multipurpose being  good.  Frugality also.

Trifle is so charmingly adaptable.  If your cake or cookies are plain, go hog wild on the layering ingredients.  This being a fruity sort of cake, including fresh pear and apple as well as dried figs and raisins, I kept the layers to a minimum.  Chocolate flavored cream cheese at the bottom, then cake pieces drizzled with Amaretto, followed by whipped cream, strawberries, then more whipped cream.

You could use ricotta or other fresh cultured cheese instead of the cream cheese in this, blended with your flavorings of choice. I used kefir cream cheese, agave nectar, and cacao powder.

The fresh strawberries came from our Volcano Village farmer's market.

Tiramisu Strawberry Trifle

For 2 large dessert glasses:

1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup cream cheese or ricotta
1/4 cup agave nectar or light honey
2 tablespoons cacao powder
1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
2 cups (approx.) left-over cake
2 tablespoons Amaretto
1 cup strawberries, sliced  (2 reserved whole for topping)

Whip the cream and add in confectioner's sugar toward the finish.  Set aside.  Beat the ricotta and tablespoon of cream with honey or agave nectar and cacao powder until smooth, or whip together in your food processor.  Set aside.

Slice the strawberries, reserving 2 for topping.  Set aside.  Cut the cake into slices or pieces to fit your serving glasses.

Assemble layers, beginning with the chocolate cream at the bottom, next add a layer of cake pieces and drizzle with Amaretto or rum.  Add a layer of whipped cream, then the sliced strawberries, more whipped cream and a nice looking, smallish strawberry on top.

Chill for at least 2 hours so all the flavors can meld.  Serve it up with a little Sicilian (er... Mexican) tap dance.  Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Truly delightful, and pretty darn easy too.  Especially if you have some slightly stale cake or cookies that need to be creatively resurrected.