Witches Brew Halloween Trifle (with jello worms): A Halloween Potluck Dessert

This Witches Brew Halloween Trifle is the perfect Halloween potluck dessert!. A Spumoni trifle consisting of delicious layers of chocolate cake, pistachio pudding, whipped cream, and cherry almond cream cheese, topped with mint bubbles, eyeballs, and jello worms, this dessert is both scary-looking and delicious!

This Halloween Trifle is not only fun, it's sure to win for grossest food at the party, just like this one did! This dessert trifle is popular during the Halloween season and ideal for Halloween parties. So if you're looking for Halloween Potluck ideas, this is your recipe!

🥘 Ingredient Notes

For this Halloween potluck recipe, you'll need: 

• Cake. You can use red velvet or chocolate cake. You can buy one from the bakery, use a cake mix, or even make your own homemade cake. If you want to make a homemade chocolate cake, I recommend my Mayonnaise Cake or my Old Fashioned Sour Cream Chocolate Cake. If you want to make a homemade red velvet cake, I would suggest using the red velvet cake recipe from my Red Velvet Ice Cream Cake!
• Pistachio instant pudding. I use pistachio-flavored pudding because it's naturally green, and you don't need to use food coloring. The flavor also melds perfectly with the cream cheese cherry almond layer and the chocolate cake!
• Sliced almonds. Sliced almonds work best for this recipe.
• Whipping cream. Make sure you are using 33-36 % fat whipping cream (real whipping cream). Spray whipping cream will not work (it will melt).
• Green scotch mints and white scotch mints. I use Kerr's brand - you can buy the white and green in a bundle from Amazon. However, some batches are darker than others, and the batch of green mints I used for the process images was darker than the ones I used for the final images. If you can't find mints that are light enough, you can always use a little green food coloring to darken the pistachio pudding. I recommend using a gel food coloring such as Wilton Kelly green.
• Edible markers. I recommend using Americolor, as they are the best quality, in my opinion.
• Candy eyes. I used small candy eyes and made larger candy eyes out of the white mints and edible black marker (and I made some with black and red marker).
• Jello worms (optional). The jello worms are a nice touch, but optional. They take additional time to make, so if you want to use them, I suggest making at least a day in advance, as they take time to set.

*Please see printable recipe card for full list of ingredients and quantities

📖 Variations

• Worms: You can use gummy worms in place of Jello worms (but they don't look as realistic)
• Whipping cream: You can use Cool Whip instead of homemade whipped cream
• Pistachio Pudding: If you can't find pistachio pudding, vanilla or white chocolate instant pudding can be used instead. Add a few drops of green food coloring and a touch of almond extract to mimic the spumoni flavor and color. In a pinch, you could use vanilla instant pudding.
• Spring dessert: Although this witch's brew dessert recipe is a Halloween dessert, it's also perfect for a scary birthday party or, oddly enough, a spring garden theme party. Seriously. Layer it in a clear trifle dish and you have yourself a spring color-themed trifle, complete with worms! Just skip the eyeballs and bubbling cauldron mint toppings, add a gardening tool, and you're good to go!
• Earth Day: Or you can make this Earth Day Recipe !

👪 Serving Size

This easy Halloween potluck recipe makes 30 servings, so it's the ideal Halloween potluck food. However, you can half, double, or triple the recipe by clicking on the serving number and selecting the number of servings you'd like. The ingredient quantities will automatically adjust. You could also build it in individual trifles (as shown below) using mini trifle bowls or mini cauldrons (affiliate link).

🌡️Storage

You can store this Halloween trifle covered in plastic wrap for a day or two if you want to make it in advance (but put the eyeballs, dirt, and worms on just before serving).

Transporting: If you are transporting this dish to a potluck, don't put on the decorations until you arrive. If your cauldron or trifle dish is very full, you can also put the final layer of pudding in a separate container and add it to the trifle when you arrive.

I recommend Glad Press N' Seal (affiliate link) because it creates a better seal, is thicker, and stronger

*NOTE: If mints are left on the trifle, the mint flavor will seep into the dish, and it's quite dominant. If you like mints, then you can put them on in advance. If you do not like mints, then put them on just prior to serving!

Store leftovers of this delicious treat in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Leftovers can also be frozen to eat as a frozen treat, but do NOT plan to thaw, as the whip cream will run.

I freeze the leftovers in a rectangular or loaf container, then once frozen, slice it and wrap slices separately and store in the freezer for a delicious frozen treat that tastes just like ice cream cake!

🍽 Equipment

You will need an electric mixer, but you don't need any special equipment to make this fun dessert. It definitely makes it look even cooler when you use a cauldron! (affiliate link). If you can't get your hands on a cauldron, then you could use a trifle bowl. I used a wooden spoon for the pot stirrer.

❔ Recipe FAQs