Cubes of cake soak up the goodness from fruit and custard. Add a drizzle of liquer (or don’t!) and layer in a clear glass bowl for a pretty presentation.
What is a Trifle?
Trifle is an English dessert often made from liquid-soaked cubes of cake layered with fruit and custard or pudding. The first trifle I ever made was for my brother-in-law and his brother at Christmas. It was a dessert their English mother made for them often. It’s an easy-to-make but visually impressive dessert! Both light and decadent, it’s the perfect ending to every meal.
Why We Love This Dessert
Trifle is an easy recipe for new-ish (and seasoned) home cooks that looks impressive on any table!Made ahead, the flavors blend and make it taste even better!The variations are endless, using seasonal fruits and easy-to-make custard or pudding.
Ingredients in Trifle
Trifle is a colorful combination of liqueur-infused cake, fresh fruit, and custard. It’s always served in a specialty trifle bowl that’s clear but any clear glass bowl will do. Liqueur can easily be switched out for orange juice, honey, or even a flavored coffee syrup. Cake – Use a store-bought pound cake, angel food cake or bake a packaged mix. Any cake will do! Experiment with other flavors like yellow cake, gingerbread, or a simple white cake. Some trifle recipes also call for sponge cake or even ladyfingers which are cookies often used to make tiramisu. Fruit – Fresh strawberries (or any fresh berries) work well and we use seedless raspberry jam or jelly. Try blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, sliced peaches or bananas. Custard – Custard is traditional in an English trifle and actually easy to make from scratch. You can also use ready-made vanilla pudding or homemade tapioca pudding. Feel free to add extracts to custard or pudding, like banana, orange, lemon, rum, or brandy.
Variations
Use chocolate cake or even brownies to turn this into a chocolate trifle (caramel or crushed Oreos are a great addition). Use chocolate pudding in place of vanilla.Replace the custard layer with no bake cheesecake, this simple cream cheese mixture adds some extra richness. in place of the custard layer. Try other flavors of pudding if using a boxed mix (like banana pudding) or stir some lemon curd into the vanilla pudding.Stir in other fruits like fresh raspberries or peaches.Garnish with fresh mint, crushed pecans or additional berries.
How to Make a Trifle
This berry trifle has an impressive presentation and leaves a sweet impression.
Tips for Trifle
Use any kind of cake you’d like. A softer cake will sink a little bit and soak up more of the juices.You can use homemade custard, vanilla pudding or use a custard powder like Bird’s (we use this for Nanaimo bars too!). If using instant vanilla pudding, I add about 1/4 cup extra milk per package.The fruit can be anything you’d like, we prefer macerated fruit (mixed with sugar and rested) because we like the sauce. If made ahead of time, depending on the cake, it can sink a bit in the dish. For this reason, I like to add the whipped cream topping just before serving.It’s really hard to mess up a trifle, have fun and enjoy! :)
Storing Leftovers
Keep leftover Trifle in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Trifle does not freeze well, but it will be gone in no time anyways!
Our Favorite Fruity Desserts
Cherry Fluff Salad – frozen & flavorfulStrawberry Poke Cake – made with JelloHomemade Peach Crisp – perfect served with iced creamEasiest Ever Pineapple Cake – only 5 ingredientsStrawberry Pretzel Salad – the best potluck dish
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