Italian Tuxedo Trifle Makes the Cut
It was an honor to make desserts for the East Central Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Fire & Ice formal fundraising event this year.
It was tough to make a final choice for this year’s dessert. For the 2011 event, I made Raspberry White Chocolate Truffle Baby Cheesecakes and they were a crowd favorite. This year, event organizers, Darilyn and Julie, narrowed it down to Italian Tuxedo Parfaits and Andes Mint Baby Cheesecakes. Since the night’s theme colors were an elegant black and red damask pattern, the parfaits made the cut, and we moved the Andes Mint cheesecake babies to the 2013 gala’s short list of possibilities.
It all starts with good-quality chocolate and my favorite amaretto liqueur, which appears not to have started the day as a full bottle. Sampling my friends, sampling.
A tower of butter is needed to bake enough brownies for 240 guests.
We served the light desserts in petite wine glasses.
The recipe in today’s post makes one large triffle bowl full of deliciousness. Of course, it’s always fun to serve them as individual trifles.
(A special thank you to Mike, the Brookings Hy-Vee Produce Manager, who spent part of the morning picking out some of the best strawberries with me! …and for making sure I had enough Ghirardelli white chocolate.)
Sweet wishes,
Italian Tuxedo Trifle
Equipment
- large trifle bowl
Ingredients
Amaretto Brownies
- 1½ cups unsalted butter, melted, 3 sticks
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups sugar
- 4 eggs, large
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon pure almond extract or bakery emulsion
- 4 tablespoons Italian amaretto liqueur, like Disaronno
- 1 cup 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Silky White Cream
- 4 oz white chocolate
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 16 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup powdered confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract or bakery emulsion
- 2 cups whipped topping, thawed
- 2 lbs fresh strawberries
Instructions
Amaretto Brownies
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9×13 cake pan or line with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir together melted butter and cocoa. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and eggs on medium speed until fluffy, about five minutes.
- Slowly beat in the cocoa and butter mixture. Add flour, salt, almond extract and amaretto liqueur; beat just until combined.
- Spread half of the brownie mixture in the pan. Sprinkle with the finely chopped chocolate. Carefully spread the remaining brownie batter over the chocolate all the way to the edges.
- Bake for 35-37 minutes. Cool completely. Cut into bite-size pieces.
Silky White Cream
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt white chocolate and milk. Stir until melted. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Beat in powdered sugar and almond extract.
- Slowly stir in melted white chocolate. Gently fold in whipped cream.
- Slice most of the strawberries into bite-size pieces. You'll want to save some whole strawberries for garnish on top.
- In a large trifle bowl, layer brownies, cream and strawberries. Repeat layers until all the ingredients are gone. Refrigerate 3 hours before serving. Can be made one day ahead.
Nutrition
Go back to the recipe by scanning this QR code:
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
I made these for a party at my home. Everyone loved them! For some reason if you put booze in a dessert everyone thinks you can work magic.
I’m making these tomorrow for my mom’s birthday. She and I are very excited. Brownies and amaretto sounds like a fabulous pairing. Is the whipped topping cool whip? I’ll report back on our sure to be happy bellies. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
What a nice birthday treat. Yes, the whipped topping is thawed Cool Whip. Please do let me know how everyone enjoys it. Happy birthday to your mom! 🙂
Absolutely delicious. My mom and I do not have adequate words for the experience eating this was. I think these will be making a repeat appearance over the holidays. The brownies alone are definite new recipe I’m adding to my brownie collection. I adore brownies; I’d give up all desserts for a lifetime of perfect brownies. In that dream, these would be featured weekly. Thanks again for sharing!
You are so sweet and your comment just made that entire recipe worth posting. Thank you, thank you! Sweet dreams, Staci
Oh my goodness!! Your photos look delicious!
Congratulations on being selected to make these wonderful Triffles for this special occasion!
Staci….the Italian Tuxedo Triffles were fabulous. Everyone was still raving about them days later. I didn’t think you could top last year’s cheesecake….but you definitely came through. I can hardly wait to start taste testing for next year’s Fire & Ice event! Luckily I will get my cheesecake fix at Tanner’s graduation! Thanks so much for all of your hard work and talent in the kitchen!
So nice of you, Darilyn!! Thank you. I’m excited to make the cheesecakes for Tanner and your family!
What an honour for you to again have been chosen to prepare the dessert for this occasion. The parfaits look so beautiful, not to mention delicious. Even though everyone in attendance must have been full after that great dinner, I’m sure they all saved room for dessert and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Paula – you are always the sweetest thing – I wish I could reach out and HUG you!!!!!