Favorite Holiday Dessert

The title should actually say, "Favorite Dessert" not just for holidays...  Dark Chocolate Raspberry Trifle.  Jake and Maggie requested it for Christmas dinner dessert this year.

Even though it has "dark chocolate" in the name, it actually has very little chocolate in it - just enough, in my opinion.

 You don't need a ton of ingredients, and if you go the "Sara Lee" route, it doesn't require any baking.  (In my opinion, Sara Lee make a pretty mean pound cake and if I don't have to bake it, hallelujah.)

The list of ingredients:  1 pint heavy whipping cream; 1/2 cup sugar; 1 family size Sara Lee pound cake; 2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened; another 1/2 cup sugar; 2 tsp. lemon juice; 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla; fresh or frozen raspberries (about 3 cups) (reserve juice if using frozen); raspberry syrup; 1 large dark chocolate bar.

Beat the whipping cream and 1/2 cup of sugar until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.  Next, mix the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla until smooth.  Add 2 cups of the whipped cream and mix gently.

You'll need a trifle bowl or a big glass bowl. (Walmart sells cheap trifle bowls.  The Pampered Chef one is also nice; it has a pedestal and a lid.)  Cut your pound caked into slices - you'll need enough for three layers.  My trifle bowl is big enough to use 5 slices per layer, so I cut my cake into thirds, then cut each third into 5 equal slices.

Layer the pound cake in the bowl; and drizzle with raspberry syrup.  (I usually use fresh raspberries, so they don't have a lot of juice, hence the syrup - Torani's is good, it's just for flavoring, don't use  syrup for pancakes...)  If you use frozen raspberries, thaw them and then use the juice for this.

Next, spread 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture over your moistened cake, then it's time for the raspberries.  1/3 of your raspberries will go on top of the cream cheese. 

And then break up 1/4 of your chocolate bar into little chunks on top of the raspberries.  We like Ghiradelli's Intense Dark.  (And I know, it's a lot of thirds and fourths...it all works out in the end.)

Do two more layers like this...

And top with the remaining 1/4 of cream cheese; the rest of the whipping cream and the rest of the chocolate bar.   Serve immediately or refrigerate.  I usually refrigerate it for awhile to really let the raspberry syrup soak in.  Works great to make it the night before you need it, too.

Every time I take this somewhere, I get requests for the recipe, so I thought I'd share.  I always like a new, easy recipe that is company-worthy!  

This makes enough dessert to feed a good twenty people.  So if you make it just for your family and consume it all; just pick up a copy of Jillian Michael's 30-day Shred to make up for it...(best workout DVD ever!!)