If you love eggnog, you're going to adore this eggnog dessert! This NO BAKE Mini Eggnog Trifle is an indulgent, yet light-tasting trifle with layers of chocolate cake, rum flavor, eggnog mousse, and whipped cream. It's family-friendly (using rum extract), quick and easy to make, and perfect for the holiday season. But the best part is the sparkly edible gold candy pearl garnish!
This eggnog trifle is the ideal winter trifle recipe and the perfect holiday dessert for your New Year's Eve or holiday celebrations! It was inspired by my Death by Chocolate Trifle and a desire to create a mini dessert for the holidays! It's a real crowd pleaser and pairs well with this Baked Cornish Hens recipe or any holiday meal!
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I love trifle because it's not a heavy dessert so it's ideal for enjoying after a big holiday meal. Although this eggnog trifle will make the perfect addition to your New Year's Eve celebration, they are great for any holiday celebration. We had them for our Christmas dinner dessert and they were a huge hit.
🥘 Ingredient Notes
I'm usually preparing a lot of meals around the holidays, as well as doing a great deal of Christmas baking, so it's nice to have a festive dessert option that requires NO BAKING!
This easy eggnog dessert is made using store-bought cake and vanilla pudding so they are easy to throw together. But best of all they are bright, festive, and scream C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-I-O-N!
You will need the following simple ingredients:
- Toffee bits. Toffee bits give this dessert a delicious hint of toffee and a bit of texture. I use Skor bits.
- Eggnog. You can use light, regular or homemade eggnog.
- Whipping cream. Make sure you are using 33% - 36% cream.
*See recipe card for full list of ingredients and quantities
📖Variations & Substitutions
- Chocolate cake: You can use any type of store-bought or homemade chocolate cake such as Chocolate pound cake, Old Fashioned Sour Cream Chocolate Cake , Chocolate Sponge Cake or Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake or a cake mix. If you make a cake mix, make it in a 9x13 pan and only use HALF of it. You can freeze the rest or use it for something else. If you really don't want to bake a cake and can't find a store-bought cake, get a McCains Deep and Delicious cake from the freezer section, scrape off the frosting and thaw it. I have done this and it works great!
- Rum extract : You can use actual rum if you prefer (just triple the amount and cut back on milk by the same amount). Or you can use brandy extract or vanilla extract.
- Pudding: You can substitute butterscotch or white chocolate pudding in place of vanilla.
- Whole trifle or combination of mini trifles and smaller trifle: You can make a whole large trifle in a trifle bowl or a combination of smaller trifles. I made 2 mini trifles for the kids, then a larger trifle (in a medium bowl) for my neighbors (photo below)
- Garnish: You could just use toffee bits instead of gold sprinkles, or use chocolate shavings instead.
🔪How to Make Mini Egg Nog Trifle
- Step 1: Cut chocolate cake into 1 inch cubes, approximately. *If you bake the cake, let it cool completely (I bake it a day in advance).
- Step 2: In a medium mixing bowl, combine instant vanilla pudding mix with eggnog, cold milk, and rum extract. Beat as per pudding package directions. Stir in toffee bits. Refrigerate until pudding is firm, about 5-10 minutes.
- Step 3: Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat whipping cream on medium speed for several minutes until soft peaks form then on high speed, then fold in sugar.
- Step 4: Continue beating on high until stiff peaks form.
- Step 5: Take 2 cups of the whipped cream and fold it into the prepared eggnog pudding, stir to combine. Set aside the remaining whipped cream (this will be your garnish/topping).
- Step 6: Layer cake cubes (cake pieces) on the bottom of the glass.
- Step 7: Then add pudding mixture.
- Step 8: Then add more cake to the top of the pudding, leaving enough room for the whipped cream topping. Repeat for remaining glasses.
- Step 9: Use a pastry bag, fitted with a 1M tip to pipe on whipped cream topping (or spoon it on). *Alternatively, you can spoon on the whipped cream
- Step 10: Garnish: Garnish with gold sprinkles (I use pearlized gold sprinkles in this photo) and additional toffee bits (if desired).
Top Tip
You can use any brand or type of gold pearls, gold sprinkles, or edible glitter for the garnish. You can buy them at hobby and cake decorating store (Michael's in Canada) or Wilton gold sugar pearls (affiliate link) through Amazon. Just double-check to ensure they are edible. Also note that most gold and silver Dragees are safe to decorate with but NOT edible!
If you're looking for New Year's Eve dessert ideas for your family or a romantic dinner for two, these eggnog trifles are ideal! Our family tradition is to have a selection of mini and finger foods on New Year's Eve and this dessert fits in perfectly with that plan and has become a family favorite!
But if you LOVE eggnog and want more, try my Eggnog Cheesecake Bars and my Eggnog Cookies with Baileys frosting!
👪 Serving size
This creamy eggnog trifle recipe makes 4 servings. Have a larger crowd? You can change the number of servings by clicking on the serving size in the recipe card and selecting the number of servings you prefer. The ingredient amounts will then adjust accordingly.
🌡️Storage
Ideally, it's best to make this mini trifle the night before, but I do not recommend making any earlier than that. You could also make it just prior to serving.
You can store leftovers for up to 2 days in the fridge in an airtight container (even sealing the top of the glass with plastic wrap will suffice.) Aside from the cake, the other ingredients in this layered eggnog dessert don't stand up to freezing.
This layered dessert with a simple eggnog mousse is a delicious dessert that's simple to make with instant pudding and whipped cream. The addition of the whipped cream cuts down on the sweetness from the pudding, eggnog, and toffee bits. It also makes the texture lighter and fluffier.
🍽️Equipment
I make this Eggnog Dessert using stemless wine glasses (affiliate link) because it's practical and you don't have to buy any special glasses. However, you can use a parfait glass, mason jars, dessert shot glass or almost any type of glass you desire.
But if you want to make it really FUN, I recommend these individual trifle bowls! (affiliate link). You can also serve these in a smaller glass. These wine glasses are 16 oz/2 cup portions. You will also need an electric mixer (affiliate link) *See recipe card for equipment photos and links
❔Recipe FAQ's
Traditionally, a trifle is an English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly, and whipped cream, whereas va parfait is a French dessert made with egg yolks, sugar, cream, and flavoring (usually fruit, and sometimes with liqueur.) However, in North America, there is little difference between the two these days. Both a trifle and parfait have come to be known as any layered dessert in a glass or glass bowl. While they were once different, they are now used interchangeably.
It's always better to make trifle the day before so the flavors meld and the cake softens (but you don't have to). However, if I were making it a day in advance, I would not put the whipped cream on until just before serving because the whipped cream is not stabilized and doesn't hold as well.
Cold eggnog works best for this recipe because it's being mixed with instant vanilla pudding and cold milk.
If you make your eggnog trifle the day before serving it, the cake will absorb some moisture so it won't get soggy until a few days later.
You can use a fat-free vanilla pudding and whipped topping and bake a homemade cake, such as this sour cream chocolate cake. replacing the sugar with half the amount of monk fruit sweetener.
So, if you're looking for the perfect Christmas dessert, New Year's Eve Dessert ideas for your holiday party. This eggnog trifle is perfect if you are short on time or simply don't feel like baking.
My son is an eggnog lover who claims, "eggnog lovers will LOVE this dessert!" However, I loved it and I'm pretty neutral about eggnog, so they are bound to be popular with your crew, whether or not they are eggnog crazy!
🎉More Holiday Dessert Recipes
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📋 Mini Eggnog Trifle Recipe
Equipment
- individual trifle bowls (or stemless wine glasses)
Ingredients
- 150 gram chocolate pound or loaf cake store-bought or home-made 5-6 ounces * about ½ a 9x13 cake (I freeze the other half for future use)
- 102 gram of box vanilla instant pudding 3.5 ounce box
- ¾ cup 1% milk
- 1 cup eggnog * I use the light eggnog
- 2 tablespoons toffee bits * I use Skor, but you can use Heath or any brand
- 1 teaspoon rum extract
- 3 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
Garnish
- gold edible candy mini pearls *See NOTES for details
- toffee bits
Instructions
- Chop cake into ½- 1 inch pieces. If you are baking it yourself, let it cool completely.150 gram chocolate pound or loaf cake store-bought or home-made
- In a large bowl, combine instant vanilla pudding mix with eggnog, cold milk, and rum extract. Beat as per pudding package directions. Stir in toffee bits. Refrigerate until pudding is firm, about 5-10 minutes.102 gram of box vanilla instant pudding, ¾ cup 1% milk, 1 cup eggnog, 2 tablespoons toffee bits, 1 teaspoon rum extract
- Meanwhile, beat whipping cream on medium speed for several minutes until soft peaks form then on high speed, then fold sugar in. Continue beating on high until stiff peaks form.3 cups heavy whipping cream, 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
- Take 2 cups of the whipped cream and fold into the prepared eggnog pudding, stir to combine.
- Set aside the remaining whipped cream (this will be your garnish/topping)
- Layer cake cubes (cake pieces) on the bottom of glass, then pudding mixture,
- Then more cake, leaving enough room for whipped cream topping. Repeat for remaining glasses.
- Use a pastry bag, fitted with a 1M tip to pipe on whipped cream topping (or spoon it on)
Garnish
- Sprinkle with additional toffee bits and gold edible candy pearls!gold edible candy mini pearls, toffee bits
Dave
Yummy and not too heavy, good for something a little sweet after a big dinner.
Terri Gilson
We had this egg nog trifle for our first Christmas dinner (alone) during Covid. We all loved that it has festive flavors, but was light and delicious!