Chocolate Trifle with Homemade Pudding

For my Mom's Birthday party a few weeks ago I also made this chocolate trifle that I forgot to blog about. :) All chocolate lovers raved about it. It was a snap to put together. The only more time-consuming element was the homemade chocolate pudding but it so silky and delicious, it was definitely worth the few extra minutes. I made a batch of brownies and since I was pressed for time- (i.e. made this at 11:30PM) I simply used a box mix. I then layered brownies, chocolate pudding, and Cool Whip, repeating the layers a couple of more times and finishing of with chocolate syrup that I swirled around with a knife for a fancier presentation. It was almost completely gone by the end of the party! :)

 

Chocolate Pudding:
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white sugar 
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1/4 cup cornstarch 
• 1/8 teaspoon salt 
• 2 3/4 cups milk 
• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, stir together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Place over medium heat, and stir in milk. Bring to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Let cool briefly, and serve warm, or chill in refrigerator until serving.

This is a link to the original recipe for the chocolate pudding:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-cornstarch-pudding/