This sounds very good to me....you can substitute instant vanilla pudding for the custard powder.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas Trifle

I think that the secret to a great trifle is the homemade cake and the custard. I've been making this recipe for over 30 years.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Patty's English Trifle
======================
Cake
1/4 Pound butter
1 cup fruit sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
3/4 cup milk
1 Tablespoon Baking powder
2 teaspoon vanilla

Custard
3 egg yolkss
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
2 1/3 cups milk
1 Teaspoon vanilla
Raspberry preserves
Cream Sherry
Raspberries or Blueberries
Whipping
cream
. Preheat oven to 350 Cream butter and sugar together until light and
fluffy. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Sift Flour and baking powder
together. Add flour to butter mixture along with milk. Add vanilla.
Pour into buttered 9 X 13 inch pan and bake for approximately 30 to 40
minutes or until golden. Scald milk. Beat egg yolks with sugar and
cornstarch. Add scalded milk to egg mixture. Cook until thickened. Add
vanilla and cool with plastic wrap on surface of custard. This will
prevent a skin from forming. To assemble - Cut cake in half and then
slice horizontally and then spread with raspberry preserves that have
been thinned with Sherry. Cut cake into chunks and place a layer of
cake in Trifle or glass bowl. Sprinkle with Sherry. Pour some of the
custard over cake and add fresh raspberries or blueberries. Repeat the
layers. Refrigerate. For best results, assemble in the bowl one ay
ahead. This allows the custard to meld with the cake. Pipe whipped
cream over surface a few hours before serving. Sprinkle with toasted
sliced almonds. ENJOY!

May not be what you are looking for, but I thought I might make something like this for Christmas, at least decorated with the trees :) Sorry, I don't know how to post, but here is the link, gotta learn one of these days!

http://www.bettycrocker.com/Recipes/Recipe.aspx?recipeId=8488

Here ya go ngraham, just do a copy and past in the space under "Message" labeled "Optional Link URL." Then put the name of it it in the next box. The recipe looks wonderful!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Peppermint Cream Brownie Torte

Thanks, trudymom! How simple, I never paid attention to those lines before :) I am known for trying to make the easy stuff too complicated.

English Trifle

This dessert has six layers. It should be made in a deep glass bowl so that the layers are visible.

half of a stale pound cake
raspberry preserves
one recipe of vanilla custard, or one package of vanilla pudding (reduce milk by 1/4 cup if using package pudding)

thick cream for whipping
1/2 cup of powdered sugar

one cup of sherry, or rum
package of sliced almonds--toast them lightly

Slice pound cake in 1/4" slices. Cut each slice in half. Spread half with raspberry preserves, put other half on top--like sandwiches. Layer half of your cake sandwiches in the bottom of a glass bowl (so that one can see the layers). Drench with about half a cup of sherry or rum--enough to moisten well. Layer on half of your custard or pudding.

Whip cream with powdered sugar until stiff. This will be your third layer.

Place half of the whipped cream on top of the layers you are building. Make another layer of cake sandwiches, drench with half cup of rum or sherry, layer on the remainder of your pudding or custard, and top with remaining whipped cream. Refrigerate for several hours to flavors can blend. Top with toasted sliced almonds when ready to serve.

ngraham, you are welcome. It took me about a year until I learned to do it.

Chocolate Trifle

2 packages of brownie mix
4 Skor bars, crushed
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
cup sugar
1 large tub of Cool Whip

Bake brownies according to package directions.

Mix the cream cheese with the sugar until well combined. Fold in the large tub of Cool Whip.

In a large bowl, do alternate layers starting with (1) crumbled brownies, (2) crushed Skor bars, then (3) cream cheese mixture. Decorate the top with crushed Skor bars and refrigerate.

Deadly Chocolate Trifle

Serves a crowd unless real chocolate lovers get started at it. Brownies may be prepared hours ahead of time with Kahlua if desired.

1 Fudge brownie mix (or your own), prepared
1/3 cup kahlua (or sweetened black coffee)

3 Instant chocolate mousse dessert mix, prepared (3.1 oz., 87 g each)
8 chocolate-covered crispy toffee bars (such as Heath or Skor), 1½ oz., 39 g each, crushed (about 1-1/3 cups)
4 cups frozen light whipped topping, thawed

Make holes, using a fork, all over top of brownies. Drizzle Kahlua over top. Let stand for 10 minutes. Chop brownies into small pieces. Divide into 2 piles. Put 1 pile into glass trifle bowl.

Layer ½ of mousse, ½ of crushed candy bars and ½ of whipped topping over brownies in bowl. Repeat layers, beginning with remaining pile of chopped brownies. Chill.

Garnish with shaved chocolate and a sprinkle of crushed chocolate-covered crispy toffee bars over the whipped cream, if desired. Serves 20.

**You can use 2 instant chocolate pudding powders (4 servings size each) instead of the instant chocolate mousse dessert mix. Beat pudding powders with 4 cups milk until smooth but not thickened. Pour ½ of pudding over brownie in bowl, and proceed as directed above.

Black Forest Trifle

This quick-and-easy Black Forest Trifle is a variation of the traditional English trifle. It is made of layers of chocolate pudding and cherries, laced with cookie crumbs  either vanilla, shortbread or chocolate chip.

4½ cups milk
3 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup cornstarch
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups cookie crumbs (made from wafers, shortbread or chocolate-chip cookies)
1 can (20 oz) cherry pie filling

Put 4 cups of the milk into a large, heavy saucepan. Add unsweetened chocolate and heat over moderate heat, watching carefully, until bubbles form on milk around edges of pan  milk is then scalded. Remove from heat and set aside.

Put cornstarch, sugar, salt and remaining ½ cup milk into a small bowl. Use a small whisk to stir cornstarch mixture until all dry ingredients are moistened and no lumps remain. Be sure mixture is well stirred just before adding to hot milk.

Using a large wire whisk, stir hot-milk mixture in saucepan while gradually adding cornstarch-milk mixture. Return saucepan to heat and cook over moderately high heat, stirring constantly, until milk mixture begins to boil. Boil 1 minute longer, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. (If you must stop for a short while, place a piece of plastic wrap on surface of pudding to prevent a skin from forming.) Spoon 1/3 of the chocolate pudding into a 2-quart soufflé dish or glass bowl. Top with 1/3 of the cookie crumbs.

Set aside ½ cup cherry pie filling. Gently spoon half of the remaining filling onto crumbs in bowl. Repeat layering with another third of chocolate pudding, crumbs, the remaining cherry pie filling and the remaining chocolate pudding.

Spoon remaining cookie crumbs around chocolate pudding to form a border. Top chocolate pudding layer with remaining ½ cup cherry pie filling, placing it in the center. Refrigerate trifle, covered, until pudding is well chilled  5 to 6 hours. Makes 8 servings.