Summer has arrived! Well we have had a couple hot days, but mostly rainy days. I’m not complaining because we need it, but I’m ready for more sun.
I love to make stuff in advance when I can and what’s easier than making a dessert in stages? I baked my cake ahead of time then the morning of made the pudding and whipped topping. That way it didn’t take up a lot of room in my fridge. You can’t go wrong with a trifle, there’s no art to it just layers of flavor!
You’ll also have some pineapple juice leftover so be sure you make a cocktail with some coconut rum!
Pina Colada Trifle
(Adapted from Making Life Blissful)
1 cake mix, prepared, baked, and sliced into cubes, about 3–4 cups of cubed cake. I used a Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme cake which was DELICIOUS and full of pineapple flavor. If you want to add some pineapple flavor to a regular yellow cake mix, simply add some pineapple juice to the batter before you bake it.
2 small boxes of vanilla instant pudding, prepared. About 4 cups of pudding.
1 can of crushed pineapple, drained (save the juice)
1 small can of pineapple tidbits, drained OR fresh pineapple chunks
1–2 cups of coconut flakes
1/3 cups of Cream of Coconut. I used Coco Real Gourmet Cream of Coconut. It has a delicious, creamy, sweet coconut flavor. I found ours at the grocery store. It is often used to make pina colada drinks.
1 tsp. of coconut extract flavoring, optional
4 cups of fresh whipping cream. You can also use Cool Whip here, but I love the freshly whipped stuff.
Whip your whipped cream. Add the coconut extract or flavoring to the cream and mix well. Set aside.
Prepare your pudding with milk as directed on the box. After pudding has set, add your add about 1/4 cup of the reserved pineapple juice to the pudding and mix well. Then add the crushed pineapple and the coconut flakes to the pudding. Another option is to add the coconut flakes to the whipped cream if you want. There are many ways to switch up this dessert.
Begin layering your dessert in a trifle dish or medium sized clear bowl. Start with a layer of the pudding mixture. Then add 1 cup of your cake cubes. Continue with whipped cream, pineapple chunks, and cream of coconut. With the Coco Real Cream of Coconut, you can just simply drizzle it right out of the squirt bottle.
Repeat all the layers, until you run out of ingredients, ending with whipped cream on top.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
