caramel apple pie trifle

{photo credit: me}

do you remember apple bobbing from when you were a kid? i'm glad i never thought about just how disgusting the whole game actually is when i was nine years old and my head was submerged in a bucket of germ and spit infested water. not to mention what a fool you looked like to everyone who was standing around watching you. at nine years old you don't care about stuff like that. you care about that apple. that one freaking apple.

now that we're grown and fancy, we prefer our apples already caught for us. preferably peeled and sliced. doused with sugar and layered between whipped cream and creamy vanilla pudding.

caramel apple pie trifle

(this recipe yields 42 servings. 42? i don't have that many friends. i cut everything in half, and it made enough for one small travel size serving and one medium/large serving.)

ingredients:

1 package yellow cake mix

6 cups cold milk

3 packages (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding

1 teaspoon apple pie spice

1 jar (12-1/4 ounces) caramel ice cream topping

1-1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

2 cans (21 ounces each) apple pie filling

2 cartons (16 ounces each) frozen whipped topping, thawed

directions:

1. prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using two greased 9-in. round baking pans. cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
2. in a large bowl, whisk milk, pudding mixes and apple pie spice for 2 minutes. let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set.
3. cut one cake layer if necessary to fit evenly in an 8-qt. punch bowl. poke holes in cake with a long wooden skewer; gradually pour a third of the caramel topping over cake. sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans and spread with half of the pudding mixture.
4. spoon one can of pie filling over pudding; spread with one carton of whipped topping.
5. top with remaining cake and repeat layers. drizzle with remaining caramel topping and sprinkle with remaining pecans. refrigerate until serving.

for the original recipe go here

try it out! it was super easy to put together, and i had no leftovers. my friends are just like me-they like their fruit as unhealthy as possible.