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This may be the best fall dessert ever.

Layers of moist, made from scratch, spice cake, maple pudding, and pillowy whipped cream studded with crunchy toffee bites, this trifle is hard to beat.

If you get tired of Caramel Apple Crisp Pie or Amazing  Apple Crisp, this fills the need for pumpkin.   It’s perfect for those fall get-togethers when you need something to bring that serves plenty of people, looks impressive, and tastes amazing. It’s also pretty easy to make and worth the effort to make it all from scratch, though you can use shortcuts if needed. It can easily serve 10-12 people from the big trifle bowl, or you can assemble it into 1/2 pint glass jars to make the cutest (and easily portable) presentation.

🍁You’ll start by making a pumpkin spice cake.

Beat 1/2 c. room temperature butter with 1 1/4 c. sugar for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each and scraping down the sides of the mixer bowl.

Add 1 c. canned pumpkin and 1 tsp. vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the following dry ingredients:

• 2 c. unbleached flour,
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder,
• 1 tsp. baking soda,
• 1/2 tsp. salt,
• 1 tsp. cinnamon,
• and 1/4 tsp. cloves.

Now, add 1/2 c. buttermilk to the egg mixture, alternate adding buttermilk with adding the dry ingredients as well.

Begin and end with the dry mixture.  Mix well.

Pour the batter into two 8 inch cake pans that have been buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cake tests done with a toothpick or knife. Once it has completely cooled cut it into cubes.

🍁Now for the maple pudding which is my Homemade Vanilla Pudding recipe with the addition of maple flavoring:

Heat these ingredients over medium-low heat:

• 3 cups milk,
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste (or pure vanilla extract)
• and 2 tsp. maple extract.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix the following:

• 3/4 c. sugar,
• 4 T. cornstarch,
• a pinch of salt
• and 6 egg yolks

When the milk is just starting to simmer, add a cup to the sugar mixture, stirring constantly, to temper the eggs.

Add that whole mixture back to the pot whisking constantly and cook until it bubbles and thickens.  Do NOT stop whisking,  Pudding burns easily to the bottom so just stand there and whisk until it’s thick.

Remove from heat and stir in 2 T. butter.

Let cool completely in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

🍁Lastly, whip 1 pt. (2 cups)  heavy whipping cream until it has soft peaks.  Fold in 4 T. powdered sugar to sweeten.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the pudding very gently.

🍁Now for the layering. In a very large bowl or individual clear jars, layer one third of the cake cubes, one third of the pudding, and sprinkle the whole thing with a toffee candy bar broken into little pieces.

Repeat the layers two times. Once done, lightly dust the top with cinnamon and finish with toffee sprinkles, or sparkling sugar, or maple sugar if you have such a thing (this is what I used in some of the pictures).

Refrigerate until serving; I recommend overnight if possible to mold the whole thing together and moisten the cake nicely.  Serve right from the fridge in the individual jars or from the trifle bowl.  

They’re gonna love it!

*Spice cake adapted from Joy of Baking’s recipe.