Easy Strawberry Trifle Recipe
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A summer celebration isn’t complete without a delicious dessert. This no-bake Strawberry Trifle has layers of delicious pound cake, sweet strawberries, and irresistible pastry cream. And… it’s ready in minutes!
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This simple Strawberry Trifle recipe is a quick and easy layered dessert inspired by a summer classic… Strawberry Shortcake. Minutes in the making, it’s perfect for summer gatherings and strawberry season.
This sweet, effortless dessert is the perfect way to end any summer meal and a great make-ahead option for parties and potlucks. Simply garnish the top just before serving.
Celebrate summer with this oh-so-easy summer dessert, whether for the 4th of July, a summer afternoon tea, or even a wedding reception.
What I Love About This Strawberry Trifle Recipe
- A delicious and easy no-bake dessert
- It’s a beautiful summer centerpiece
- Ready in minutes with no chilling needed
- Perfect during strawberry season!
Perhaps my favorite part of this summer trifle recipe is that it’s very forgiving. It doesn’t require perfection in any form. If the layers are not perfect, all the better. It’s a simple-to-make summer dessert that’s beautiful, tasty, and fun!
How to Make a Strawberry Trifle with Pound Cake
This trifle has two and a half layers of deliciousness! It begins with a rich and flavorful pastry cream lining the bottom of a trifle bowl or dish. Pound cake cubes top the cream, followed by a layer of sliced store bought strawberries.
Repeat the first layer one more time (or as many times as your dish or bowl allows) and end with a generous amount of pastry cream on the top.
The final layer is topping the trifle with additional berries and mint sprigs. It’s simple and ready in minutes!
Trifle Dishes
If you’re wondering if you need a trifle dish to make this simple but beautiful dessert, the answer is no! Any glass bowl will work instead of a traditional trifle bowl. Ingredient amounts will vary depending on the size of your serving piece.
Here are links to my favorite trifle dishes:
- Miranda Trifle Bowl: This is the dish I most often use for trifles. I love the smaller size (7.5 inches), making it versatile for many recipes.
- Monaco Glass Trifle Bowl: A bit larger in design, this bowl is stylish and pretty.
Strawberry Trifle Ingredients
You will find the exact ingredient measurements in the recipe card below, but here is a brief list of the 6 ingredients needed:
- Pound Cake: I’m using a ready-made pound cake to show you how simple this recipe is, but you could absolutely make your own, too. This pound cake recipe is my go-to for summer berries. If you prefer, angel food cake also makes a delicious and lighter substitution, or you can use a vanilla cake mix instead.
- Fresh strawberries: Look for fresh strawberries with pretty tops if you’re using a few to decorate the top of the trifle, as I’ve done here.
- Creamy Filling: You need freshly whipped heavy cream, room-temperature cream cheese, and vanilla extract.
- Fresh mint sprigs: This is optional, but I have a lot of mint growing in my herb garden and am always adding for its delicious flavor and beautiful fragrance.
Strawberry Trifle Questions and Tips
A trifle recipe is one of the simplest, no bake desserts you can make. It’s showstopping beautiful and utterly effortless. Here are a few tips:
Absolutely! Using store-bought pound cake is a time-saving and convenient option for making a quick and easy strawberry trifle. Look for a moist pound cake with a firm texture so it will hold up well in the trifle’s layers.
To slice the strawberries, wash them thoroughly and remove the green tops. Depending on your preference, you can then cut them into thin or thick pieces. Thicker slices will provide a more prominent strawberry presence in each layer, while thinner slices will distribute the flavor more evenly. Choose your prettiest slices for the sides of the trifle bowl.
Not necessarily. While this filling recipe uses freshly whipped heavy cream, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla and is absolutely delicious, you could substitute a tub of Cool Whip or ready-made whipped topping instead if you’re short on time. To substitute the cream cheese, you can use instant vanilla pudding as an additional layer with the whipped topping.
Certainly! While strawberries are the star of this trifle, you may love to add mixed berries as the season progresses. Here is my favorite, equally simple Berry Trifle recipe you may also love!
Absolutely! You can layer the ingredients in individual dessert glasses or small mason jars if you prefer individual servings. This presentation adds an elegant touch and makes serving a breeze, especially for gatherings or parties.
More No-Bake Desserts You May Also Enjoy
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Simple Strawberry Trifle Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound cake store-bought or homemade, sliced
- 1 ½ quarts strawberries sliced
- 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- fresh mint sprigs
Instructions
- Hull and slice the strawberries. Reserve a few unsliced strawberries to garnish the top of the trifle.
- Cut the pound cake into 1-inch cubes.
- In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add the room temperature cream cheese and confectioner's sugar; beat until smooth and creamy. Then, beat in the vanilla and 1/3 of the whipped cream. With a spatula, fold in the remaining whipped cream until combined. I like to add the pastry cream to a large ziplock bag with the corner snipped off. It makes it easy to add the cream to the trifle dish without smearing it on the sides.
Assemble the Trifle
- Begin and end with a pastry cream layer as follows: Add 1/3 of the pastry cream to the bottom of the trifle dish. Top with 1/2 of the cubbed pound cake and 1/2 of the berries. Then add a second layer of pastry cream, followed by remaining cubed pound cake and remaining berries. Add a final pastry cream layer to the top.
- If serving immediately, top with reserved berries and add sprigs of fresh mint. If serving later, cover and store in the refrigerator up to 24 hours. Just before serving, decorate the top with berries and sprigs of mint.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.