Caramel Apple Pie Trifle

By Christy

This week I hosted book club! I love hosting book club and having the opportunity to use my girlfriends as my personal taste testers for some of the recipes I try. This week BcB's topic of choice is trifles which fell perfectly because trifles are usually super delish desserts that are great for any type of large gathering of people. Trifles are easy to whip together, serve a lot of people, don't take alot of skill, pretty to look at, and figuring out the pan for storage is a no brainer--Thank you trifle bowl!

If you aren't really sure what a trifle is, it is basically a layer dessert. I would assume most consist of 3 different layers from the "Tri" in its title but in general most trifles consist of some sort of cake layer, a custard or whipped cream layer, and a fruit layer and they are topped with all kinds of different garnishes. With all the different combinations of different and delicious flavors, figuring out what type of trifle you want to make can actually be the hardest part of a trifle! lol

I knew I wanted to make something a big fall-esque. I noticed from my desk window at work last week that the Nashville treeline is seeing its first signs of yellow which makes me excited because I LOVE fall! So to start the fall season off right, I tried a Caramel Apple Pie Trifle. This recipe turned out to be a huge success and even had some coworkers say it was the best dessert I have ever brought in... and I have brought in quite a lot of baked goods throughout the last few years.

**Another great things about trifles is you can make them fairly low in calorie and fat for a dessert. Opt for fresh fruit, fat free whipped topping, and sugar free puddings. Also, angel food cake is great alternative to other cake flavors or brownies.

Ingredients:

Yellow or Butter Cake, Baked and prepared according to Box directions

2 boxes french vanilla instant pudding (will require 4 cups milk)

1 tsp apple pie spice

1 20 oz can apple pie filling

1 large container whipped topping

1 jar caramel ice cream topping

1 cup pecans chopped

Prepare your cake and let cool. While cake is baking and cooling make the vanilla pudding according to box directions but also add the apple pie spice. Chill until set.

Cut cake in a circle to fit your trifle bowl. (I used a bowl like a cookie cutter to cut out my cake). You can always put the cake into the trifle bowl in chunks if that works easier for you too. That's the great thing about trifles, precision isn't required!

Poke holes in the cake and cover it with 1/2 the jar of caramel ice cream topping. Top with 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. Next layer on half of the pudding mixture. On the pudding spread out 1/2 of the can of apple pie filling. Top that with 1/2 of the whipped topping.

Then repeat the steps for each layer again. That should fill out your trifle bowl. Garnish as you want, with apples or nut. I garnished with pecans.

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