#BloggerClue ~ Celebrate December with a Black Forest Trifle

Welcome to the December reveal day for the the C.L.U.E. Bloggers (CLUE = Cook, Learn, Undertake, Eat).  Blogger C.L.U.E. is a group of like minded food bloggers who get an assignment each month of another member's blog; our task is to take the theme for the month and find any recipe on our assigned blog that fits. Make the recipe, photograph the recipe, and share it with you on reveal day! For the month of December, our theme was "Celebrate" - we were given creative license to interpret that however we wanted.

I am so happy that I was paired with the lovely Wendy from A Day In The Life On The Farm. Wendy has quickly become a woman I consider an "internet friend". We've never met in person, but I love the way family and her kind heart is infused into every correspondence I've ever had with her, and into her blog posts. Plus, she lives on a farm and humanely raises turkeys, pigs, and chickens for eggs and meat. I live vicariously through Wendy's posts about life on the farm! :) I was supposed to get to feature Wendy for another group we are both part of back in October, but had to miss out on that month's reveal day because of my son's unexpected health issues.

I am very happy to say Kent is recovering well from his stroke back on October 9th - 2 full months ago now, but continues to work hard every day towards his full recovery. His physical therapy is the largest ongoing effort for him, though there remains many cognitive functions he is still working on as well. Today is actually the day he is FINALLY coming home from the hospital! He'll be starting day rehab tomorrow, but gets to spend nights at home again. We are all excited about this transition.

In any event, this month, especially considering the past two months, I have much to celebrate and am grateful for the chance to do so. To celebrate my children, celebrate life, celebrate the gifts I have been given in this life and that I strive to not take for granted each and every day. I want to celebrate hope, new beginnings, love, laughter, joy, friendship, support in times of weakness, faith, and the beauty in all those day to day moments - a smile, a touch, a good meal. In thinking about celebration, I stumbled upon this post written by Wendy two years ago and decided that was it for me. Two dishes that were part of a celebration, and can easily be apart of your celebration this season (ok, it also gave me "permission" to finally get myself a trifle bowl)! I will be making and sharing the crab dip at another time, but ran out of time to get both done for this particular post.

My sister Kylie came down with a cold 1 1/2 weeks ago so I ended up spending pretty much all of last week through last Sunday at the hospital with Kent while Kylie held down the fort at home with Lindsey. I wasn't able to do any cooking during that time, so am just sharing this beautiful and deliciously special treat of a trifle today. Made from primarily pantry staple ingredients, you will have a gorgeous dessert with just a little effort and planning on your part. Create the components, layer, decorate if desired (chocolate shavings, chocolate sprinkles, maraschino cherries, etc.) and voila!

See all the celebratory dishes we shared this month: 

• Cookie Dough Cheese Ball by Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Henri’s Tastee Dressing by Kate from Kate’s Kitchen
• Bourbon Apricot Meatballs by Christiane from Taking on Magazines
• San Permis Sparkling Cocktail by Stacy from Food Lust People Love
• Almond Shortbread Cookies by Lisa from Authentic Suburban Gourmet
• Cheesy Garlic Blooming Loaf by Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva
• Party Meatballs by Azmina from Lawyer Loves Lunch
• Homemade Onion Rosemary Bread by Kim from Liv Life
• A Savory Cheesecake by Wendy from  A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Lea Ann from Cooking on the Ranch
• Blueberry Lemon Bars by Anna from annaDishes
• Handcrafed Baileys Irish Cream by Debra from Eliot’s Eats
• The Randy Reindeer by Kathy from A Spoonful of Thyme
• Black Forest Trifle by Rebekah from Making Miracles
• White Chocolate Chip Cookie Souffles by Lauren from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Italian Anisette Cookies by Sue from A Palatable Pastime

Black Forest Trifle from A Day In The Life On The Farm

Ingredients
1 box Chocolate Cake Mix, prepared according to package directions and cooled
1 large box Instant Chocolate Pudding mix, prepared according to package directions
1 pint heavy cream
1 - 2 TBS powdered sugar
1 can Cherry Pie Filling
Optional: chocolate shavings, sprinkles and / or maraschino cherries to garnish

Directions

1. Cut cake into 2-inch square pieces.  
2. Whip the cream and powdered sugar with a stand mixer using the whisk attachment until light and fluffy (the original recipe calls for 1 TBS of powdered sugar which isn't very sweet to taste, but you will find it works very well with the rest of the trifle as the other components are pretty sweet - however if you want the whipped cream to be sweeter feel free to add a little more powdered sugar to yours). 
3. Lay 1/3 of the cake pieces into the bottom of a Trifle Bowl.  Top with 1/3 of the prepared pudding. Spoon 1/2 of the cherry pie filling over the cake and pudding.  Spread 1/3 of the whipped cream on top of the pie filling.  
4. Layer one more time (1/3 of cake, 1/3 of the pudding, remainder of the pie filling, and 1/3 of the whipped cream).  Follow by the final layer of the remainder of the cake pieces, remainder of the pudding and top with the remainder of the whipped cream.  
5. Garnish as desired. Keep chilled until ready to serve.