ps...it's not just for breakfast anymore!

morning blogfans!

as luck would have it we received a "last minute" invitation to easter dinner with our friends, "the shekelles." elsa is such a wonderful hostess and master of tasteful, yet healthy dining. knowing that we were already out for the day she said we didn't really need to bring anything "unless we felt like picking up some dessert." apparently she doesn't know me as well as i thought! pick up dessert? surely, she was jesting me knowing i would, with time, make dessert! well, i can always find time to make dessert and this time, i was more than pleased with my coffee cake redux!

as we were relaxing after brunch my thoughts kept drifting to dessert options with the emphasis on easy. i figured most people would have had their fill of chocolate and bunny ears by evening so what could i make that would be sweet and light and fresh???? mark kept saying "just cut the left over coffee cake into smaller bites and be done!" "absolutely not," i said. no way was i taking a brunch pastry to dinner...unless....perhaps...i wonder if i could use the leftover strawberry coffee cake in something else. something more formal and festive. like perhaps a trifle?!? hmm. let me do a little google-search! oh, look at this, a strawberry trifle recipe!

now, i have never made a trifle although i have thought about it. i never wanted to invest in the extra dishes just for something i may only serve once. (i don't know why but trifle has a special bowl and serving cups...) after a bit of consideration and review i decided to go for it. i looked around my kitchen and i had all of the ingredients necessary if i substituted the strawberry coffee cake AND a suitable trifle bowl stand-in. with my alterations to the original recipe i would have something new and flavorful using my brunch leftovers. now, i am excited. adrenaline is pumping through my veins at the thought of charting a new food course!

trifle is easy to make. it's just time-consuming as there are multiple components that must be prepared separately and then put together in layers. first i made the fresh strawberry sauce. then, i made the pudding. and the fresh whipped cream. then, combined them together into a sweet airy concoction. sliced another pound of strawberries. cubed the coffee cake and polished my glass bowl to a sparkling shine. the next part was easy---like dessert lasagna with a layer of cake topped with strawberry slices and sauce and then the pudding whip and repeat three times. when the bowl was full, i topped the whole trifle with plain whipped cream and garnished with more strawberry slices and some fresh mint from my garden. it looked impressive and if weight and size matters, it felt impressive too! i had to wonder how a little cake and a lot of whipped cream could be so heavy!

arriving at our dinner party our friends were so excited by the dessert. elsa even had a trifle set which she happily dug out for serving! we relaxed and enjoyed conversation over a traditional easter dinner of baked ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus and a green salad. everyone was quite full so i was a bit worried that the trifle would be too much and put us in a food coma...

what a delicious surprise! even the full bowl weighed a ton and each serving seemed like a pound each spoonful was like sweet air. perfectly creamy, full of fresh strawberry flavor and light. everyone asked what kind of cake i used because the trifle had a slightly different flavor. i had to confess i "recycled" my coffee cake. "impressive" and "can i please have a bit more" were the comments that confirmed sweet success to me.

a delicious easter from brunch to dinner for all!

xoxox