Peanut Butter Pudding & a Trifle

I have been having one of those weeks. Between our annual conference at work, very interrupted power supply at home, a sick toddler, and looming deadlines, I thought I would not even survive. But here I am. My eyes are puffy, my body hurts and my head is spinning with things I need to get done, because those deadlines are still looming, and my toddler is still sick. On top of that, my Google reader is overflowing, I haven't posted in days and I have so many emails to respond to. Sigh. I hate weeks like these.

And I just know things are going to be crazier next week, because I have a one-week-long Summer camp to run for five hundred children. Yes, you read right. FIVE HUNDRED children. FIVE hundred screaming, running, chaos-creating, hyperactive, little children. Just thinking about it makes me want to crawl into a hole and stay there. But, God is good & will see me through!

I am lucky I have the time to write this post, and so I am going to make it quick. If you read my blog, you could not have missed my previous post about the Mini Cake. Everyone has been so kind in commenting on that post. Your response has been so encouraging. You just reinforced what I said about the amazing food blogging community.

So, back to the mini cake. I had stashed away the rest of the yellow cake to make a trifle because my husband always enjoys a good trifle. Making a trifle is simple enough, and so I did manage to make that this week. Trifle for two.

Because I wanted to make this just for my husband and I, I have listed measurements for 2 portions. This recipe can be doubled or tripled as required. Also, the recipe calls for only half a portion of the peanut butter pudding recipe. You could halve the recipe if you want, but I made the whole recipe and ate the leftover pudding. I am sure no one will complain about leftover pudding - especially leftover peanut butter pudding.

Peanut Butter, Banana & Chocolate Trifle
1 large banana, sliced
2 oz bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate
50 ml double cream
1/2 portion Peanut Butter Pudding, (recipe below)
6-8 tablespoons of cake crumbs
4-5 tbsp of simple syrup/brandy/pineapple juice 

Chocolate layer
1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler.
2. When the chocolate has completely melted, stir in the cream and whisk until smooth and completely blended.

Peanut Butter Pudding
1/2 cup sugar
5 tsp cornflour
A pinch of salt
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup cream
1/2 - 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (depending on how peanut butter-y you want it)
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, cornflour and salt till mixed.
2. Add the milk and cream. On a low heat, bring the mixture up to a boil.
3. As soon as it starts boiling, take it off the heat and stir in the peanut butter, stirring until smooth.
4. Put the saucepan back on the stove, and continue cooking on low heat until the pudding reaches the desired consistency.
5. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla.
6. Keep covered until you use it.

Assembling the trifle
I used individual serving glasses.
1. At the bottom of the glass, pour 1 tsp of the chocolate ganache.
2. Top with about 2 tbsp of cake crumbs.
3. Pour some of the liquid (syrup/juice etc.) over the crumbs until they are moistened.
4. Cover the cake crumbs with a generous portion of the sliced bananas.
5. The next time I make this pudding, I will add either crushed peanut brittle or crushed crunchy muesli over the banana layer. I think the trifle would be so much better with that element of crunch. If you agree, you could add this layer in.
6. Top the bananas with the peanut butter pudding.
7. Cover with a layer of chocolate ganache.
8. Repeat all the layers one more time - cake crumbs, syrup, bananas, (crunchy stuff), pudding, ganache.
9. Refrigerate until cool.
10. Top with whipped cream & serve.

This is a very simple recipe, and I made it up in my head. I just thought it made sense. And it tasted very good. Peanut butter, bananas and chocolate. With that combination, how could it not!  
P.S. - I don't think I will be able to post next week. I know that's not a good thing. But, I would consider myself blessed just to survive the week. I don't know if anyone would be interested in writing a guest post or two for a very, very new and amateur blogger, and so I am not even going to ask. I will try my best to squeeze at least one post into my crazy schedule. Thank you for bearing with me!

P.P.S. - I apologize for the very poor photographs in this post. It was the best I could do, given the circumstances. Sad!

Technorati Tags: Peanut, Butter,, Trifle,, Pudding,, Ganache,, Recipe,, Dessert