Chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle

My sister-in-law Lena is the trifle queen. And ever since our trip to Utah (when she introduced me to a fabulous Chocolate Brownie Trifle), I have had a bit of trifle on the brain. So when I ran across mention of a chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle over at {unwrapped}, I had to give it a whirl. Not too much work, with a huge chocolate and peanut butter payoff. Yummers!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle

1 chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. peanut butter chips
4 1/4 C. cold milk, divided
1/2 C. whipping cream
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 small pkgs. Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
1 small carton Cool Whip
8 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Pour the batter into a greased 13 x 9 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

In a heavy saucepan, combine chips, 1/4 C. milk and 1/2 C. cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chips are melted. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature. Place the remaining milk in a mixing bowl; beat in pudding mixes on low speed for 2 minutes. Place pudding in the fridge for 3-4 minutes to set up a bit.

To assemble, crumble half of the cake into a 4 qt. Trifle bowl or large bowl. Layer with half of the peanut butter sauce, pudding, Cool Whip and ½ of the crumbled Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups; repeat layers ending with Cool Whip and remaining ½ of crumbled Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.