March Madness ACC Tribute -- Maryland Turtle Trifle

[NOTE:  Apologies, have been experiencing technical difficulties with the photos for this post, if they don't show up, will try to make them available some other way.]

Okay, as much as I hate to end on a sweet note with a tribute to Maryland, I couldn't pass up the chance to try this out. If you like chocolate, caramel, Kahlua, and pecans, you've come to the right place. It's a half-n-half recipe, the pound cake had been made from scratch, but the rest is ready-made which makes the final product easy to throw together.

Turtle Trifle

Parts

Chocolate pound cake, sliced and cubed
Dulce de Leche pudding (Jell-O!)
Kahlua (or other coffee-flavored liqueur)
Pecan chips
Caramels, cubed into bits
Chocolate jimmies
Whipped cream

Chocolate pound cake

3 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/4 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
6 eggs

Mix the dry ingredients, set aside.  Mix the milk and vanilla, set aside.

Cream together butter, shortening, and sugar until smooth. Add in eggs one at a time, blending fully after each.

Add in part of the flour mix, blend. Add in part of the milk, blend. Continue to alternate until both are fully added.

Pour the batter into a lightly greased bundt pan and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hr 25 minutes or until baked through.

When you take the cake out of the oven, immediately remove cake from the pan and allow to cool.

Trifle assembly

Put down a layer of pound cake cubes and sprinkle with Kahlua. Cover the layer with dulce de leche pudding and sprinkle pecan chips over it.

Made a second layer of the same.

Top with a dollop of whipped cream and garnish with caramel pieces and chocolate jimmies.

NOTES

You can either make a single big bowl of trifle or make individual helpings like I did for the demo.

If you don't want to use a liqueur, substitute the Kahlua with some regular coffee (caf or decaf).

Maryland got their "Terps" nickname in the 1930s because diamondback terrapins were prevelant in the Chesapeake Bay area -- much better than the "Old Liners" as they were formally known as (based on the state's nickname "The Old Line State."

Maryland's mascot's name is Testudo.

The school colors -- red, black, gold and white -- come from the state flag.