Easy Choco-Mocha Pancake Trifle

Cooking something special at home is a challenge for the occasional cook who does not stock up on  'special' ingredients. Or when you are not likely to be using these ingredients on a regular basis. With microwaves and OTGs not being part of every average Indian home, its more of a challenge. And power cuts are a fact of life here.

Cake, whipped cream, ganache are some of the things which come to my mind the moment I think of dessert. Today however, I wanted to try something which does not require a cake for the base, nor whipped cream. I wanted to make something that would be easy for a novice, yet pleasing to the palate. Nothing that would need a lot of practice or skill. Nothing  fancy really, just a sweet and tasty ending to a meal. And of course, something which can be put together at leisure and refrigerated to be consumed later.

This post is for my colleagues at office, who would like to try their hand at making a simple dessert. This is a dessert with layers of moist egg less chocolate pancake in between layers of coffee custard, with some  nuts thrown in between. Hope you try this out and surprise your hubbies on Valentine's Day with  Easy Choco-Mocha Pancake Trifle.

Egg less Chocolate Pancakes


This egg less chocolate pancake recipe  is from Tarla Dalal. I have found this to be very easy and delicious. Instant gratification when you get a chocolate craving. Kids and could have this for breakfast with honey or chocolate sauce.

Ingredients:
Corn Flour -1/4 cup
Plain Flour (Maida) - 1/4 cup
Milk- 1/4 cup milk
Powdered Sugar- 2 tablespoons
Fruit salt (Eno) 1/2 tsp
Cocoa powder - 2 tablespoons
Water  - 1/4 cup
Melted Butter or Ghee - 1 tablespoon
More butter for cooking

Measure all the ingredients and put in a dry bowl. Whisk well with a wire whisk, ensuring there are no lumps.
Heat a non-stick tawa, grease well with ghee or butter. Once the tawa is hot,maintain a medium flame. Pour one table spoon batter to make a small pancake. Do not spread the batter. watch this carefully as the pancake will get charred easily. Flip gently when small bubbles appear at the sides and the pancake begins to brown at the edges. Brush with a little butter and cook till done. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter. Keep the pancakes aside. This batter makes about 10-12 pancakes and you could make 6 Trifles, if you do not keep eating the pancakes in between:-))

For the Mocha Custard:

This custard recipe is from Nita Mehta, the only variation being the addition of instant coffee.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups skimmed milk
3 tbsp skimmed milk powder
4 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 tbsp vanilla custard powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee

More Ingredients:
Chopped roasted nuts (optional)
1/2 tbsp sugar dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

Mix custard in 1/2 cup cold milk ensuring there are no lumps. Mix the milk powder and the instant coffee in the remaining 2 cups of milk  and bring to a boil in a heavy pan. Add the dissolved custard mixture . Cook on low heat , stirring constantly  for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in the sugar. Let the custard cool and then add the vanilla essence. Do not worry if the custard is not smooth when cool. Whisk with a wire whisk and viola its smooth again!!

To Proceed:

Place one pancake in each Trifle glass. Soak with one teaspoon sugar syrup. Pour 2 table spoons of custard on each soaked pancake. Put some toasted nuts. Layer again with another pancake and repeat the process of soaking and pouring the custard. Cover well with cling film and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.

Garnish with grated chocolate or dust some instant coffee through a tea-strainer on top just before serving. You could also garnish with coffee beans or Nutties.

Variation:  You can do away with the custard and replace it with vanilla or coffee ice cream. Make the pancakes and keep aside in an airtight container(in the fridge if you are making this much ahead). Chill the sugar syrup really well (10 minutes in the freezer will ensure this if you are in a hurry). Assemble the dessert in a tall glass the same way. Put in scoops of ice cream in between the soaked pancakes . Pour some chocolate sauce on top if desired.  Serve immediately.