Vegan Black Forest Trifle
If you love chocolate, custard, cherries and cream, you’ll love these vegan black forest trifle cups!
Creamy, decadent, rich and melt in your mouth dessert that everyone will love. It’s easy to make and gets better with age. This plant-based trifle is perfect for the holidays when you want to impress your friends and family with something that looks complex, but is super easy to make and assemble.
This is my second trifle recipe. You can find the other trifle cups that have classic flavours with a beautiful touch of colour and sweet flavour from berries.
This recipe is a healthier alternative to the dairy and egg-laden traditional trifles. Like any good dessert, it’s more satisfying than anything store-bought.
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I love it when others enjoy the food that I make. This is one of my favourites to put together as a treat when we have guests over, or we take something with us to share.
Kitchen tools needed to make this vegan trifle
The items that you’ll need to execute this dessert are:
- Scales
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- Large bowl
- Small bowl
- Fine mesh strainer (for sifting dry ingredients)
- Mixing spoon
- Whisk
- Baking dish
- Unbleached parchment paper
- Hand-held or electric whisk
- Medium saucepan
- Small knife
- Peeler (for shaving chocolate)
Tips for making these easy vegan black forest trifles
Each recipe that is featured in this trifle has a great set of tips and tricks. For those, please check out the chocolate cake, whipped coconut cream and vegan custard posts for more.
However, here are a few tips to help you with the trifle itself.
- These cups can be made the day before you want to serve them. The flavours will mature over time.
- If you don’t have glasses that are a similar shape to mine, you can always make one big trifle and serve it individually at the table.
- Want to make this more traditional? Add some of your favourite liquor for the chocolate cake to soak up. Fruit-based ones like a cherry or raspberry liqueur, light or dark sherry are the best ones to use. I personally find that it doesn’t need the extra something as it’s moist and flavourful without it.
- If fresh cherries aren’t in season, decorate with more morello cherries from the jar.
Layers in these vegan black forest trifle cups
Chocolate cake – it’s such an easy recipe to put together! With the added coffee, you’ll achieve the beautifully rich, deep chocolate goodness of your dreams.
Cherries – the cherries add a touch of freshness and moisture to the trifle, giving the overall dessert a balanced flavour. The morello cherry juice that we use to soak the chocolate cake takes the sponge to another level.
Coconut whipped cream – creamy and decadent; the coconut whipped cream provides balance to the rich and sweet chocolate layers.
Chocolate custard – the custard turns out as a silky smooth, rich chocolate with a hint of caramel.
You can, of course, layer this vegan black forest trifle in any way you like!
I have just put together some inspiration for you. I hope you can add your own spin to it. If you’d like some crunch in your trifle, you can add some small chunks of chocolate or nuts inside it too.
Other vegan dessert recipes you’ll love:
- Vegan Trifle Cups with Berries
- Baked Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake
- Easy Vegan Tiramisu (Gluten-Free)
- Vegan Vanilla Cake with Coconut Cream and Berries
- No-Bake Vegan Chocolate Mousse Cake
- Vegan Banana Custard Cake
If you try this recipe, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest.
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Vegan Black Forest Trifle
- Prep Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Cool Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 5 serves
Description
These creamy, decadent, chocolatey vegan black forest trifle cups are easy to make yet look sophisticated. Perfect for treating friends and family over the holidays and other special occasions.
Ingredients
Cake layer:
- Make half the classic chocolate cake
Cream layer:
- Whipped coconut cream – add an additional ½ cup of the coconut cream and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
Chocolate custard layer:
- Vegan custard recipe
- 50g / 1.76 ounces vegan dark chocolate
Extras:
- 670g / 1.48 pound jar Morello cherries, drained
- Fresh cherries (optional)
- Dark vegan chocolate, for decoration (optional)
Instructions
- Chocolate cake: First, make the classic chocolate cake (linked above) – use only half the recipe as you’ll need half the amount of sponge that the cake recipe makes.
- Instead of a cake tin, you’ll be baking it in any flatter baking tray that is approximately 24cm x 24cm / 9.45 inches x 9.45 inches. Line it with parchment paper before baking for around 20-30 minutes. It’s done when a skewer comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.
- Whipped coconut cream: While the cake bakes, you can make the coconut whipped cream (linked above).
- Once made, set aside in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set.
- Chocolate custard: Now, you can move onto the custard (linked above). Once the custard is done, turn off the heat and stir in the dark chocolate until it has completely melted and incorporated. Cool completely.
- Once all the ingredients for your trifle are cool and set, you’re ready to start assembling.
- Before you get started, cut the sponge into smaller squares, it will be easier to place inside the ramekins or glasses that you’re using. My glasses hold 420ml / 14.2 ounces.
- Place a couple of pieces of cake on the bottom of the glass and press it down so that there are no holes/empty pockets. If you like, you can soak the sponge with some of the juice from the morello cherry jar.
- Next is the first layer of morello cherries, followed by the whipped coconut cream. From there, you add the chocolate custard, another layer of cherries, followed by the last layer of whipped coconut cream.
- Finish it off with some fresh cherries, and shaved dark chocolate (optional).
- Set in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. This dish is best served cold. I like to leave mine for a minimum of two hours to let the flavours infuse a little more.
- Diet: Vegan
Can a different fruit be used? I am reading morello cherries are sour.
If you use the ones you get from a jar, they shouldn’t be. You may be referring to them as fresh cherries being sour. I hope that helps!
Just wondering… does the coconut whipped cream gives the dessert a strong coconut flavour?
It really depends on what you define as a strong coconut flavour. With the other components, I personally feel that it balances it out well. You can also reduce the amount of coconut whipped cream and adjust in the future if you’re unsure.
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe. I’m going to try it!!! 😋
Wishing you guys a wonderful weekend! 😘
Thanks, Luciana 🙂