Are you Team Pie or Team Cake? I’ve always been more of a Team Pie girl myself, so, of course, I thought about making something akin to a Derby pie for the Kentucky Derby.

But there are a few problems. First: Derby pie is copyrighted, and the recipe is closely guarded. Second: One of our friends — who happens to be quite pregnant — has a gluten sensitivity, so I would either need to make a separate dessert that she could eat, or bake a gluten-free crust. Instead, I decided to combine the chocolate, bourbon and pecan flavors of the pie in a gluten-free trifle.

For the chocolate, I decided to use gluten-free brownies. But instead of making them from scratch, I bought a bag of gluten-free brownie mix and baked them the night before (with a handful or two of pecans added). A few hours before the party, I made the bourbon caramel with toasted pecans, then cut the brownies up into pieces and layered brownies, bourbon caramel and homemade whipped cream in the trifle dish. I topped the whole thing with some extra toasted pecans.

The result was gooey and decadent — the flavors of chocolate-bourbon-pecan pie, without the crust. There wasn’t quite enough caramel to totally cover the chocolate layers, but it was enough to give each serving a healthy dose of caramel goodness. Feel free to double the caramel part of the recipe, and to double the amount of brownies if you want to completely fill a giant trifle dish. But I found this was more than enough for eight people, and though the caramel-making requires some patience, it wasn’t terribly difficult. You won’t even miss the gluten.

Gluten-free Derby trifle (Serves at least 8-10, caramel recipe from Gourmet)
1 9×13-inch pan of gluten-free brownies, with about a cup of pecan pieces added, either from a mix or your favorite recipe (try this one, doubled)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream, plus 2 cups for whipped cream
3 tablespoons bourbon
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup toasted chopped pecans, plus more for topping
2-3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Bake the brownies and allow to cool. Toast the pecans if necessary.

Place the sugar in a clean, dry heavy saucepan and turn the heat on the low side of medium. Allow to melt, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is melted (this took about 15 minutes for me, I think). Once the caramel is melted, cook it — swirling the pan occasionally — until it turns deep gold. Do not allow to burn!

Take the pan off the heat and slowly add the 3/4 cup heavy cream, the bourbon, lemon juice and pecans. The caramel will get really hard, but don’t worry. Put the pan back on the heat and allow it to melt a little, then stir and keep simmering over medium-low heat until the carmel is totally dissolved and the mixture is blended together (if it isn’t melting properly after a few minutes, turn the heat up a tiny bit, but not a ton). Remove the caramel from the heat and allow it to cool slightly.

Make the whipped cream by pouring the 2 cups of heavy cream and 2-3 tablespoons of powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or another large bowl — preferrably a cold one). Beat the cream until it holds medium peaks (don’t keep beating for too long, or it will turn into butter!).

Cut the brownies into pieces and layer half of them on the bottom of a large trifle dish. Spoon half of the bourbon caramel on top of the brownies, as evenly as possible, then spread some of the whipped cream on top of that to cover. Arrange the rest of the brownies on top of the whipped cream, spoon the rest of the caramel sauce over them, and top with whipped cream (you may have some whipped cream left over). Sprinkle some toasted pecan pieces on top and refrigerate until ready to serve.