
One of my favorite things about trifles is how simple and easy they are to make. You can assemble the day ahead or bake your cake and make the pudding ahead of time and assemble it the next day. I absolutely love pineapple. I have used pineapple extract in my recipe, if you love pineapple as much as I do, I highly recommend you buy or order some. I purchased mine through Amazon. One taste of my Tropical Pineapple Trifle will have you thinking you are on vacation in the tropics. Aloha!

Ingredients:
Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme cake mix
4 eggs
Vegetable oil
Pineapple extract
Butter
Powdered sugar
1 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
1 20 ounce can pineapple slices, reserve juice
2 boxes of instant vanilla pudding, 1 large and 1 small
5 cups of milk
16 ounces of whipped topping
1 bag of Heath Bits or chopped macadamia nuts
Maraschino cherries, optional
Umbrellas, optional

Pictured above is an individual trifle. Trifles can be made in a large trifle bowl, individual trifle bowls, mason jars, I have even made trifles in clear plastic cups and taken them to go for a party/picnic.

Pictured above are the main ingredients. 16 ounces of whipped topping, 20 ounces of pineapple slices, 20 ounces of crushed pineapple, 1 box of pineapple supreme cake mix, 1 large box of jello instant vanilla pudding and one small box of the same and 1 envelope of Dream Whip. Not pictured cherries, Heath Bits, eggs, water, pineapple extract and oil.
The layers are cake, pudding, whipped topping and Heath bits. I have three layers in my trifle bowl not including the pineapple rings and cherries on the top.

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1 box of Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme cake mix
1 packet of Dream Whip Whipped Topping Mix
4 eggs
1 cup of water
1/2 cup oil
2 teaspoons of pineapple extract
Pour into a 13 x 9″ pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 24-29 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. While cake is baking, make your liquid to poke in your cake when it comes out of the oven.

*Poking Liquid:
The juice from one 20 ounce can of sliced pineapple, reserve pineapple rings for decorating the top of your trifle
2 Tablespoons of butter, melted
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of pineapple extract
Whisk all ingredients together and set aside until your cake is ready. *If you want to skip this step and go bold, you can pour some Malibu Rum over the holes in your cake. Trust me, you will love it.

Poke big holes in your cake all over. You will be crumbling this cake up anyway so have fun poking holes in it. Pour poking liquid on to of your cake. Cool completely before assembling your trifle. I put mine in the fridge. Your cake will be moist and that is a good thing.
Pudding:
1 large box of vanilla instant pudding
1 small box of vanilla instant pudding
2 teaspoons of pineapple extract
5 cups of milk
1 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple, drained
Follow directions on the box of puddings. Add pineapple extract to the pudding to make it pineapple. Fold in one drained can of crushed pineapple after the pudding has set.


Assembly:
Crumble cake in bottom of trifle bowl. Spread a layer of pudding over the top. Spread a layer of whipped topping over the pudding. Sprinkle with Heath Bits. Spread out to the edges of your bowl so you can see the layers. Repeat 2 more times. Decorate the top.

Decorate the top:
Whipped topping
I used Heath bits, but you could also use macadamia nuts in place of the Heath Bits
Sliced pineapple rings
Maraschino cherries
Umbrellas
