Easy No Bake Berry Trifle – A Patriotic Dessert

What exactly is a trifle?

Today's trifle comes from the French word trufle which means something whimsical. Traditionally, an English trifle had layers of fruit, sponge cake, and custard, all topped with mounds of whipped cream.

American trifles are about as easy as desserts can be, typically made of layers of cubed cake, pudding or some other filling, and fresh fruit. Like their English ancestors, they also usually have whipped cream on top.

Flavors and layers vary in American trifles. If you search for trifle on Pinterest, you will find fresh fruit trifles like red white and blue berry trifle below, other fresh fruit trifles, chocolate brownie trifles, and even Oreo trifles. The sky is the limit - anything with layers of baked goods and something fluffy seem to be called a trifle. Some don't even have fruit!

One of the reasons they're so popular is that trifles are great for making ahead. Plus, if you have a cake disaster (not that I know anything about that {ahem}, a trifle is a great way to use up the cake. You just cut or crumble it, layer it in pieces with fruit and whipped cream, and you’ve got a fancy dessert.

Most trifles are made in deep, round glass bowls (called - are you ready for it? Trifle bowls!) where you can see all the layers of the trifle. They are lovely, even the ones made from cake wrecks.

No bake berry trifle ingredients

For the lemon glazed pound cake

• Juice of 1 to 2 lemons - Does anyone still use lemon juice from a bottle? I hope not, but even if you do, don't use it in this recipe. You will definitely taste a difference if you use fresh lemon juice. A citrus press makes this step super easy.
• White sugar
• Water
• Almond extract - It might sound strange, but almond extract sends the cake over the moon. It's so good.
• 1 pre-made pound cake (or angel food cake if preferred) - I like this trifle with pound cake because it's rich and dense. See note below on using angel food cake instead.

For the cream cheese filling

• 16 ounces cream cheese - I recommend using neufchâtel cheese which is identical to cream cheese but has significantly less sugar and fat. You can find it with the cream cheese in the dairy aisle of the grocery store. If neufchâtel is even too rich for your taste or your diet, see the notes below for a lower calorie alternative.
• ⅔ cup sugar - You need this to sweeten the cream cheese.
• 2 cups heavy cream - If you are calorie conscious, you could use light or sugar free whipped topping from a tub, but do be aware that you will lose some of the rich flavor that I intended in the original recipe. The heavy cream whips up nicely and makes the trifle really smooth and creamy.

For the fruit

• 2 quarts strawberries sliced - The berries will need to be washed, dried, and sliced before assembling the berry trifle. It is best to use a salad/berry spinner to dry them after washing, although you could use a clean kitchen towel or paper towel to dry each berry individually if you wanted to drive yourself crazy. Also, it is best to do the washing and drying a few hours in advance if possible so that they have time to finish drying before assembling the trifle.
• 3 pints blueberries - Use fresh, local berries if you can find them.

No bake berry trifle instructions

Assembling this beautiful red, white, and blue dessert is so easy that you could give the task to your kids. If you don't allow them to use the stove, you will have to make the lemon glaze, but then they can go to town. I do think the glaze makes the final berry trifle pop, but if you really wanted to, you could leave it out and just proceed with the cream cheese filling.

For the lemon glazed pound cake

1. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together sugar, lemon juice, and water. Stir frequently until sugar dissolves, then remove from heat and whisk in almond extract. Set aside to cool.
2. Cut the pound cake into 1-inch slices and then cut the slices into cubes. Use a basting brush to slather glaze on at least two sides of each cube. Set aside to dry.

For the trifle

1. Arrange half of the glazed cake on the bottom of the trifle bowl, then top with ⅓ of the cream cheese filling. Top the filling with sliced strawberries and blueberries then repeat the layers. Top the blueberries with the rest of the cream cheese filling, then all the rest of the berries.
2. Cover and refrigerate until serving.

I love the flavors in this trifle, but if you want a really, really quick and easy version, you can buy a pre-made and pre-glazed poundcake and cut it into cubes. Use whipped topping from a tub in place of the cream cheese filling and layer with the strawberries and blueberries. Voilà, nearly instant trifle.

Is this berry trifle really no bake?

Yes, you need a cake in a trifle. There's no way around it. I called it no bake because you could very easily bake the cake at a different time or even buy the cake. There's no need to bake a cake to make the trifle.

There's absolutely no shame in buying a day-old pound cake, bundt cake, or angel food cake at the grocery store and using that in this recipe. It will be delicious, and it won't heat up your house in the heat of the summer.

A lower calorie berry trifle recipe

As it is written, this beautiful berry trifle has a lot of calories, especially from the cake and the filling, approximately 334 per 1/16 of the trifle.

However, a trifle doesn't have to be a calorie bomb. In fact, there are a lot of substitutions that you can make to bring the calorie count down without sacrificing much of the flavor.

Cake substitutions

The recipe calls for a pound cake because pound cake is rich and dense. You can however use an angel food cake with great results. The angel food cake is light and springy and reduces the calories in the trifle considerably, from 334 calories per serving to about 175 calories per serving.

Filling substitutions

The filling for the berry trifle as written is a sweet cream cheese frosting beat together with homemade whipped cream. There are two different substitutions you could make here to lighten the recipe. First, you could use neufchâtel cheese which is almost exactly like cream cheese but with less fat and sugar and subsequently, fewer calories.

Or, if you wanted to significantly lighten the recipe, you could substitute the entire cream cheese filling for sugar free fat free instant pudding. Use vanilla, white chocolate, or cheesecake flavor, and consider mixing the finished pudding with sugar free whipped topping to make it fluffier.

Every trifle needs cake - cake options

My recipe calls for a pound cake because it is dense and rich, but you could use any boxed mix cake, the almond cake from this recipe, or an unfrosted cake from the store bakery. Any vanilla, almond, lemon, or butter cake will work. I've also had nice berry trifles made with angel food cake which is light and airy and pretty much the opposite of pound cake but also very delicious.

A berry trifle needs berries, but...

This recipe is easy to customize, and you can use any fruit you like. If you’re making it for a patriotic holiday, try to stick to red, white, and blue colored fruit. Here are a few suggestions. Don't try to use them all at once; that would be gross.

• Red – cherries, strawberries, red raspberries, watermelon, pomegranate, cranberries
• White – pears, apples, white nectarines, white peaches
• Blue – blackberries, blueberries

Store berry trifle in the refrigerator

Berry trifle needs to be kept refrigerated both before and after serving because the berries will spoil and the cream cheese filling could sour. It needs to chill for at least an hour or two before serving and can be made up to a full day ahead.

This trifle recipe makes a lot, so if you have leftovers, you will also need to store them in the fridge. I wouldn't try to keep them for more than two or three days though, because berries have a short shelf life and also because the cake will get soggy.