Cheap Yet Impressive Dessert- Black Forest Trifle

This is the dessert I made for this past weekend and for all the company we had. It was huge and lasted all weekend and got rave reviews. It was very inexpensive to make and is visually very appealing. Hutch even took a photo of it and posted it on his Facebook page! You will need:

2 small boxes of chocolate fudge instant pudding made with 3 1/2 cups milk
1 Devil's Food cake mix made in a 9 by 13 pan -just follow directions on back of box
1 large Cool Whip
1 can cherry pie filling
1 small bag of M&M's
2 tbs of rum or brandy [I used a peach brandy I made a few years ago]
2 tbsp of vanilla extract

OK, cut the cake into small cubes, let cool completely. Add the rum to the pudding and stir. Add the vanilla to the Cool Whip and stir. Now get out your trifle bowl. Put in a layer of cake, then pie filling, then chocolate pudding, then Cool Whip. Repeat. Let this sit overnight in the frig. This dessert will feed a whole lot of folks- at least 16 servings, more if the servings are not huge. Right before you serve it sprinkle the small bag of M&M's on top.

It was a 'go to' dessert for me because I had most of the ingredients stockpiled. I'd bought cake mixes on sale at .80 per, I had generic Cool Whip in the freezer, and I'd stashed the pudding mix a while back in the stockpile as well. As always most of these items are generic store brands. I did have to buy the pie filling. But if you're really strapped for cash you can use a jar of jam in it's place.

Next time you need a show stopper dessert I hope you try this super simple one.