• 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 ⅓ 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 ⅓ of the pastry cream to the bottom of the trifle dish. Top with ½ of the cubbed pound cake and ½ 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.