Easy but Impressive Holiday Sweets
When you serve a dessert this month, "fancy up" the individual servings by placing a TJ's chocolate star or a French truffle on each piece. It's a small touch that makes each piece really pretty.
Holiday Tres Leches Cake
Eggnog is one of those mega-nostalgic drinks - it always brings back holiday memories for me and all those friends that have their secret eggnog recipes and serving tips. Another way to use eggnog is in a Tres Leches cake. It gives the cake a subtle eggnog flavor - not at all overpowering. Tres leches means "three milks" and refers to the traditional blends of milk, cream, and condensed milk that are used to saturate this cake,making it ultra moist without being soggy. The holiday version of this cake uses eggnog and rum, imbibing the cake with delicious festive flavor.
1 Box Vanilla Cake & Baking Mix
3 cups eggnog
1 Tbsp rum (such as Captain Morgan's Original Spiced Rum)
Whipped Cream Topping:
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp sugar
Cinnamon or nutmeg, optional
1) Bake cake according to instructions. I used a 9 x 13" pan. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick and seeing when it comes out clean.
2) Cool cake completely. For a formal presentation, flip cake onto a platter. I left it in the pan.
3) Using a wooden skewer or chopstick, pierce 30-40 holes into cake.
4) Mix egg nog with rum, and pour this mixture slowly over the top of the cake, allowing it to soak in through the holes.
5) Refrigerate for 2 hours, allowing cake to absorb the liquid. Spoon liquid over cake if necessary.
6) Whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add vanilla and sugar, mixing until dissolved. Spread evenly on cake.
7) Dust with ground cinnamon or nutmeg or top with a Dark Chocolate Star and berries as shown.
Note: One thing I've noticed is that the Trader Joe's Vanilla Cake and Baking Mix doesn't release from the pan easily after baking as compared to other mixes. Make sure that you oil/butter and flour the pan before pouring in the batter. Usually it takes a little encouragement to pop it out of the pan. For this recipe, I usually leave it in the pan, but either way works.
Chocolate Coffee Fudge
This recipe is from our second (new!) cookbook "The Trader Joe's Companion." It's a delicious rich, old-fashioned fudge that just takes three ingredients and about as many minutes to make! It's a cinch with great results. The special ingredient is a touch of instant coffee. In general, a hint of coffee or espresso really enhances and intensifies the taste of chocolate.
1 14-oz can Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 Tbsp instant coffee (or espresso powder)
1/2 Tbsp water
1 12-oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1.) Heat the condensed milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.
2.) Dissolve the instant coffee in the water (it will be thick) and stir into the condensed milk.
3.) Add the chocolate chips, lower the heat, and stir until melted and smooth (don't scorch it!).
4.) Pour into a lightly oiled 8x8-inch pan. Chill in fridge until set (about 2 hours).
Tip: When cutting the fudge, a plastic knife is easiest. If using a regular knife, wipe it clean in between making cuts. Then use a spatula to lift out the pieces. You can also line the pan with wax paper for easier removal of fudge.
Chocolate Truffle Trifle
A trifle is a layered dessert that is more or less the British version of an over-sized parfait. It typically consists of sponge cake or pound cake layered with fruit, cream, custard, and sometimes nuts. I tend to associate trifles with New Orleans, where I've seen chunks of cake mixed together and moistened with alcohol or syrup. You'll usually see trifle served in a large bowl, kind of like a dessert centerpiece. There's even a special footed bowl called a trifle bowl, and you can find mini-versions of it as well if you want to present the dessert individually.
I decided to make a decadent chocolate version, made of chocolate and even more chocolate, with a hint of peppermint that really makes the topping sparkle. A trifle is not usually made of chocolate, but no harm in exploring uncharted dessert territory. The layers start off with a moist brownie full of gooey chocolate bits, followed by rich Belgian chocolate pudding, and finally topped with whipped cream hiding chunks of dark chocolate peppermint bark.
1 box Brownie Truffle Baking Mix
1 container refrigerated Belgian Chocolate Pudding
1 cup heavy cream
3-5 oz Peppermint Bark, coarsely chopped with a knife
1) Bake brownie mix according to package instructions. Let cool.
2) Whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Stir in peppermint bark pieces.
3) Serve either in a large bowl or in individual cups. Make a brownie layer on the bottom, followed by pudding, and top with the whipped cream mixture.
4) Optional: garnish with Peppermint Bark, as shown.
Posted by Deana Gunn at December 17, 2009 
Categories: Vegetarian and Vegan , Food Recipes
Tags: eggnog holiday desserts trifle fudge chocolate tres leches
Categories: Vegetarian and Vegan , Food Recipes
Tags: eggnog holiday desserts trifle fudge chocolate tres leches
Oh the Chocolate Coffee Fudge is just delicious, I made it for memorial day and snuck some tonight.
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I made the tres leches cake last night. I did everything exactly has it said, except I baked for 35 min, since 40-45 (on the box) seemed too long.
I did not add Rum, but just slowly poured the egg nog on top. It wasn't soaking in, so I poked about 100 holes into the cake. I tried rubbing it in with the back of a spoon.
I thought maybe leaving it in the fridge overnight would do it. But the egg nog still sits on top. Even after sitting overnight. Alas.
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Hi Wendy,
Oh no! I hate hearing that something went wrong. We've made this recipe quite a bit with many variations and I haven't had the same problem. I find that the baking time on the box is correct (unless your oven temp runs higher than displayed). What size pan were you using? Since you baked for a lesser time than indicated, the cake may have been undercooked. *If* the cake was undercooked, it may not have been able to absorb the liquid since it would have been somewhat "wet" itself on the inside. It needs to be cake-like and done in order to absorb the eggnog. I also don't rely on the clock when baking but I do use the toothpick test and press the top to feel for the proper sponginess. And yes, you were right to poke holes in the top as directed.
To salvage the cake, you can just pour off the eggnog and frost. When you cut into it, you'll see if it's done (fluffy or not) and then hopefully you can enjoy it as it is.
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I used a 9x13 pan. The cake was quite done...light brown around the edges. Spongy. (I do bake quite a bit) My son had a piece this morning, with egg nog on top! LOL! In my frustration I poked about 100 holes in it...and it the egg nog still just sat there! Crazy!
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I made the Tres Leches cake last night and the exact same thing happened to me. I followed the recipe exactly and the baking instructions on the cake mix exactly, but the liquid would just not soak in. I also left it in the fridge overnight, hoping it would soak in, but it did not. It kind of seemed wrong as I was making it. I didn't see how the cake could possibly absorb that much liquid, as it was a pretty thin cake, but I kept going with the recipe exactly as it said, thinking maybe it would turn out right in the end, but no such luck. I have made many recipes from this blog and they have all turned out great, but this one was a big fail.
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UhOh - Looks like we're going to have to send this recipe back to the test kitchen. I know this recipe was very popular last year when we blogged about it and received positive feedback. Wona and I both made it many times (independently) and loved it. However, it looks like either the TJ cake mix formulation has changed or maybe the eggnog this year is thicker or some other new problem. Sorry for the disasters, ladies - we try hard never to disappoint but it sure looks like this recipe needs a makeover. Thanks for the feedback!
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I made this last year but I mixed the egg nog with half half-and-half (LOL, say that fast). It was very luscious and moist. This year I saw the note on the other entry and am thinking of stirring in a jar of fleur sel caramel sauce. Might be too sweet but my family has a very sweet tooth!
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I'm definitely going to try the coffee fudge! When you wrote espresso powder, do you mean coffee beans ground up to an espresso grind(powder)? Just want to make sure. My husband works at Starbucks part-time and gets free coffee. I'll have to see if he can get the Via instant coffee as well. Thanks for this recipe!!
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