This layered Berry Trifle is a simple trifle recipe with layered berries, cake and a sweetened whipped cream. It’s an easy-to-throw-together dessert. It’s one of those, “Oh my gosh… I need an easy, impressive dessert and I don’t have time to bake” desserts. There is no cooking involved except a quick sugar/lemon juice/water boil to make a syrup. Just buy your berry trifle ingredients at the store, and put it all together. Easy peasy.
If you’re a lover of trifle desserts, you might also like to try our recipes for Red Velvet Cake Trifle, Mint Brownie Hot Fudge Oreo Trifle and Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle.
This summer fruit trifle is a great dessert to make when you have access to delicious, juicy fresh berries! Berries can be pricey at certain times of the year. When you spot berries on sale, grab that deal and plan to make a layered Berry Trifle! That makes this the perfect summer party dessert for entertaining or bringing to a potluck.
It’s such a pretty dessert for Easter, Mother’s Day or spring and summer barbecues! And since it’s red, white and blue then it happens to be a natural favorite for the 4th of July too! The best part is that it’s really easy to make ahead and keep in the refrigerator until ready for serving.
What is a trifle?
A trifle is a dessert that has layers of fruit, creamy fillings and pieces of cake or cookies. It’s said that the trifle dessert originated in England in the 18th century. It was a very different dessert back then with funky additions of gelatin. These days, a proper English trifle is made with real egg custard poured over sponge cake soaked in fruit and sherry and topped with whipped cream. We’re making a much simpler version on RecipeGirl!
Ingredients Needed for making a Fruit Trifle:
- Pound Cake: Store bought pound cake is just fine for this recipe.
- Berries: Use any combination of fresh berries that you have access to.
- Sugar: Granulated white sugar is what you need for this recipe.
- Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed lemon juice is best.
- Water: You’ll be using some water to combine with sugar and lemon juice to create the syrup.
- Cream Cheese: Full fat cream cheese will make the creamy filling taste amazing.
- Heavy Whipping Cream: You need heavy cream in order to reach the right consistency in whipping it.
How to make a Layered Berry Trifle:
This Berry Trifle recipe layers store-bought pound cake (or homemade pound cake if you’re so inclined) that has been brushed with lemon-syrup, a sugared cream cheese-whipped cream, and any berries that you’re in love with at the moment. Blueberries and strawberries work perfectly. Add raspberries to create a triple berry trifle!
What is a trifle bowl?
A trifle bowl is glass and usually has straight sides and a straight bottom so that the layers are displayed. You don’t have to own a trifle bowl (though it’s very pretty if you do!), but if you can find some sort of pretty, tall glass bowl- that works too. I bought a very basic trifle bowl on Amazon, and it’s perfect for this recipe. You can also make individual trifles made in glass cups or wine glasses.
Recipe Tips
- When making the lemony sugar syrup, add some lemon zest too if you want to make it extra lemony.
- Use low fat cream cheese and fat-free pound cake if you want to lighten things up a bit.
- Feel free to double the cream cheese whipped cream layer if you want a lot of the creamy layers!
- Don’t worry at all about using a store-bought pound cake because no one will ever know. Use frozen pound cake or look for a pound cake in your market’s bakery section. Alternately, use angel food cake.
- Always place a cake layer on the bottom of the trifle dish so the cake can act as a sponge to soak up any juices.
- I prefer to use fresh berries over frozen berries. If you do use frozen berries, just be sure to thaw them and drain them thoroughly.
- Change up the fruit in the trifle to use a combination of kiwi, mango, peaches, nectarines or pineapple.
- Use fresh mint to garnish your berry trifle, if you’d like.
- Store your berry trifle in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap.
To serve, just use a large spoon and dip it into the side of the trifle bowl to scoop up berries, cake and whipped cream from the bottom. Spoon it into a dish and pass it out to your guests!
Layered Berry Trifle
Ingredients
SYRUP:
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ cup water
LAYERS:
- 12 ounces pound cake or butter loaf (store bought okay)
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 cups fresh blueberries
- 3 cups fresh strawberries
Instructions
PREPARE THE SYRUP:
- In a small saucepan, bring the sugar, lemon juice and water to a boil over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar completely. Let cool.
PREPARE THE LAYERS:
- Slice the cake into ¾-inch slices. Then brush syrup over both sides of each cake slice. Quarter each slice.
- Beat the cream cheese with sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to medium and slowly add the cream. Continue beating until the mixture resembles soft whipped cream.
ASSEMBLE THE TRIFLE:
- Arrange half of the cake pieces in the bottom of a glass serving bowl or dish (2-quart size is sufficient). Spoon half the cream-cheese mixture over the cake in dollops; spread to the sides of the dish. Scatter half of the blueberries and strawberries on top. Repeat layering with cake, cream cheese and berries. Pile additional strawberries on top.
- Cover and refrigerate until chilled (about an hour). You may also refrigerate overnight.
Notes
- For a lower fat version, try using fat-free pound cake and reduced-fat cream cheese.
- Try substituting raspberries for strawberries, or use all strawberries, or get creative with your berries!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So good!
This is sort of a cheesecake trifle, a bit different than the average trifle, but delicious. I can’t imagine why anyone gave it a 1 star review. It is excellent!