Espresso Martini Trifles
These Espresso Martini trifles are so delicious and the perfect treat to enjoy on a ladies night, Galetnine’s day, or just any occasion that would be leveled up with the addition of this easy and delicious dessert. This recipe is extremely easy to make and is totally customizable to make to your liking. I hope that you enjoy these as much as I do! :)
If you love this recipe, you might also enjoy my DELICIOUS Espresso Martini Cookies. This is one of my all time favorite recipes. These cookies are the perfect balance of rich cocoa, sweet Bailey’s infused cream, and touch of booziness. Seriously the perfect Espresso Martini Cookie out there!
Espresso Martini Cookies
How to Make Espresso Martini Trifles
- Bake the cake
- Whisk together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, leaveners, and salt.
- Stir in milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs, then slowly stream in the boiling water for a smooth batter.
- Pour into a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before decorating!!
- Make Bailey’s Whipped Cream
- Beat heavy cream with Bailey’s Irish Cream, sugar, espresso powder, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Chill until ready to use. Feel free to add more Bailey’s if you want more of a boozy flavor. Alternatively, you can always tone down the Bailey’s as well. Whatever you prefer!
- Assemble the trifles
- Use small round cookie cutters to cut circles of cake to fit your martini glasses (here’s a link to the ones I used on Amazon).
- Layer whipped cream, cake, more whipped cream, more cake—finish with a smooth final layer of whipped cream.
- Decorate
- Cover half the trifle with parchment and dust the other half with unsweetened cocoa powder. Remove parchment for a clean split design.
- Top with 2 coffee beans in the center of each glass! You can decorate these however you want, but I just love the half cocoa powder dusting!
Recipe Tips
- Don’t skip the boiling water! It helps bloom the cocoa powder and espresso, making the cake extra moist and SO flavorful.
- Make sure your heavy cream is cold before whipping—it will whip faster and hold its shape better! :)
- Want perfectly smooth layers? Use an offset spatula or the back of a spoon to flatten each whipped cream layer before adding the next. I also used tip-less piping bags to help pipe my Bailey’s Whipped Cream for every other layer. You can find the piping bags I use on Amazon, here!
Can I make this ahead of time?
Yes! Espresso Martini Trifles are great for prepping ahead—even up to 24 hours in advance. Assemble them fully, cover with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge until ready to serve. The cake stays moist and the whipped cream holds its shape beautifully.
Just add the cocoa powder and coffee bean garnish right before serving for the freshest presentation.
Can I use box cake mix?
You can absolutely use a boxed cake mix! If you’re short on time, a chocolate box cake mix works well as a super easy shortcut.
To give it that signature espresso martini flavor, stir 1 teaspoon of espresso powder into the cake batter before baking. Bake the mix in a sheet pan so you can still cut out the circular layers for stacking.
Espresso Martini Trifle
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5-6
servings15
minutes20
minutesKeep the screen of your device on.
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. espresso powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cups boiling water
- Bailey’s Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. Bailey’s Irish Cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. espresso powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (for sifting on top)
10-12 whole coffee beans (for decorating on top)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease and line a standard 18″ x 13″ cookie sheet with on-stick spray and parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fir with the whisk attachment, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt. Mix until everything is evenly combined.
- Place 3/4 cups of water in a small stove top pot and heat over medium to high heat. Turn the heat off once the water comes to a boil.
- Create a well in the center of the bowl if you’re mixing by hand and add in the milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs.
- Slowly mix everything together while adding a slow stream of the boiling water in the side of the bowl. Mix until the batter is nice and smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly with a silicone spatula then bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan that it was baked in before decorating and assembling. Make the Bailey’s Whipped Cream in the meantime.
- To make the whipped cream, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium speed until the mixture starts to thicken, slowly increase the speed then stop mixing once the mixture has reached a cool whip consistency. Store covered in the fridge until it’s time to decorate.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, use various small circle cookie cutters to cut out the appropriate sized cake circles to fit inside your martini glass. I ordered my Espresso Martini glasses on Amazon which you can find, here!
- Layer the trifles by piping a small amount of the Bailey’s Whipped Cream in the very bottom of the martini glass, place a small layer of cake on top of the whipped cream. Repeat these layers starting and ending with the Bailey’s Whipped Cream. Smooth the top of the trifle using an offset spatula or butterknife so that it’s nice and smooth. Repeat these steps until all of the trifles are assembled.
- To decorate, place a small sheet of parchment on top of one trifle at a time covering half. Sift cocoa powder on the uncovered half of the trifle then slowly peel the parchment paper up in the direction of the coated half.
- Place 2 coffee beans in the center. Repeat these decorating steps for each trifle until they’re all decorated.
- Enjoy!
Did you make this recipe?
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Everything about this recipe was delicious! Easy to make. However, the amount of cake that is left over on the sheet pan is almost more than half. You cannot put that much cake into the martini glasses, especially if you’re going to level off the top.