Double Chocolate and Vanilla Trifle

One of my biggest pet hates is throwing away food but I often find myself with off-cuts of sponge and leftover ganache from making novelty shaped celebration cakes.  I recently made a sports car shaped birthday cake which involved baking a huge slab of dark chocolate mudcake, much of which was carved away to create the right silhouette.

Instead of just leaving the cake scraps to be picked at by various members of my household I decided to make a dessert out of them along with the leftover white chocolate ganache and vanilla creme patissiere.  You don't need leftovers to make this dessert though, its tasty enough to be worth making from scratch!!!

For the Trifle

Approx 200g chocolate cake
1 bag Galaxy Bites, roughly chopped

For the Vanilla Creme Patissiere

200ml milk
100ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, split open
2 eggs plus 1 yolk
75g caster sugar
40g cornflour
50g unsalted butter, cubed

Heat the milk, cream and vanilla pod til just simmering, stirring to ensure it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan.
Take off the heat, fish out the softened vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds.  Stir them back into the milk and discard the pod.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks, sugar and cornflour til very smooth.  Quickly pour over the hot milk, whisking all the time to prevent the eggs scrambling.
Pour back into the pan and heat til thick, whisking all the time.  Whisk in the butter ensuring it is all melted and well combined.
Take off the heat and directly cover the surface with clingfilm to prevent a skin forming.  Leave to cool.
Stir well before using.

For the White Chocolate Ganache

50ml double cream
100g good quality white chocolate, roughly chopped

Pour the cream into a large heatproof bowl and microwave on high in 20 second bursts until almost boiling.
Add the chocolate and stir until melted.  The heat from the cream should be enough but you can microwave for another 20 seconds if any stubborn bits wont melt,
Whisk the mixture using an electric hand mixer until thickened and fluffy.

To Assemble:

Roughly crumble the cake into large chunks and place a handful into the bottom of a sundae glass.
Spoon over a thick layer of creme patissiere and sprinkle with a few chopped sweets.
Add a layer of ganache then repeat to fill up the glass.
Decorate with cake crumbs and any remaining sweets.
(I made 3 individual trifles from this amount but it depends on the size of dish you use)

You could always use ready made fresh custard and whipped double cream if you don't have any leftovers or fancy making the creme pat and ganache from scratch.