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Mardi Gras Trifle

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Mardi Gras trifle is just one tiny Big Easy party…minus the flashing and bead throwing.

Mardi gras trifle is a fun layered dessert with the bright vibrant colors of Mardi Gras that's perfect for your next New Orleans bash!

Growing up there wasn’t Mardi Gras in my house. There was Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday meant a pancake supper at our local church and a short service in prep for Lent. But then I went to college and it became alllllll about Mardi Gras.

Ok, so mostly the drinking you do at Mardi Gras but also the king cake. Have you had king cake? It’s a cinnamon roll type bread ring covered in royal icing and colorful sanding sugar. And if you’re really lucky you’ll find the plastic baby hidden inside and be King for the day!

Or something. There’s a whole bunch of symbolism that goes into the color of the sprinkles and the use of the plastic baby but all I’m really worried about are the swirls of cinnamon and the sweet royal icing.

Mardi gras trifle is a fun layered dessert with the bright vibrant colors of Mardi Gras that's perfect for your next New Orleans bash!

But this recipe isn’t about any of those things. Except those colored sprinkles. Purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power all to represent the Wise Men or something. These colors were brought over from France with the original King Cake and have obviously stuck around.

And since they’re so pretty and so vibrant and so jewel toned they’re totally my jam. Trifle-y layered things are my jam, too. Which is why I love these key lime pie dessert shooters. And also these caramel apple pie shooters. And these panna cotta shooters.

Clearly I love to both eat and drink things out of shot glasses.

These vibrant trifles are beyond easy and you can even get creative with the filling. Buttercream, whipped cream, mascarpone frosting, white chocolate ganache. Whatever lights your little heart right up. Whatever you decide these trifles are a tiny little Big Easy party in your mouth!

Mardi gras trifle is a fun layered dessert with the bright vibrant colors of Mardi Gras that's perfect for your next New Orleans bash!

Mardi gras trifle is a fun layered dessert with the bright vibrant colors of Mardi Gras that's perfect for your next New Orleans bash!

Mardi gras trifle is a fun layered dessert with the bright vibrant colors of Mardi Gras that's perfect for your next New Orleans bash!

Mardi Gras Trifle

Yield: 12 2oz Trifles
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • purple, green, yellow gel food color
  • 3 cups of your favorite frosting

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine sugar, flour, and baking powder. 
  2. In a separate bowl whisk together vegetable oil, egg whites, vanilla, and milk. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 
  3. Divide batter evenly between 3 bowls and color one each with green, gold, and purple. 
  4. Fill lined muffin tins 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a middle cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before assembling.
  5. Once cooled crumbled cupcakes into crumbs being careful not to combine colors.
  6. Add about 1 Tbs of purple cake crumbs to the bottom of a 2oz shot glass, pressing down slightly. Pipe or spoon about 1 Tbs of your frosting on top of the purple crumbs. Then repeat with the green cake crumbs, more frosting, and finish with yellow crumbs.
  7. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 2 hours before serving. 

Kat

Wednesday 6th of March 2019

Thanks for sharing this cute idea! Made it with my kids last night and they loved mixing in the food coloring and crumbling the cupcakes! I subbed with gluten-free cake mix and layered with homemade vanilla pudding instead of frosting(I'm a weirdo and am not a frosting fan, too sweet for me). A fun and yummy family project!

Just Jo

Sunday 12th of March 2017

This looks so much fun. Mardis doesn't exist in the UK (and I'm a little freaked at the idea of a plastic baby in my cinnamon bun!) but I can get behind any holiday which celebrates with cinnamon or trifle!

Meaghan

Tuesday 14th of March 2017

I think the plastic baby represents Jesus?? I really couldn't say because it sounds a little weird to me, too but at least I'm enjoying cake before I crunch down on that strange plastic baby!

~Meaghan

Brian Jones

Thursday 2nd of March 2017

Awesome colours, looks unlike any trifle I have ever seen but sounds fab... We don't get Mardis Gras on our side of the Atlantic which is a shame as I quite like drinking, having said that I rarely need an excuse for a decent drink, just a location ;)

Meaghan

Sunday 5th of March 2017

I've decided that trifle is just a layered dessert. American google agrees :P

~Meaghan