Foodie Friday: Trifle

Somewhere in my law school years Mama introduced me to trifle. It's a traditional English dessert that's filled with creams and cakes and berries. I'd seen pictures of it's decadent berry goodness before, but I'd not made made one myself. Probably because I didn't know how easy it is to make!

You start with a trifle bowl. It's a little easier to find a trifle bowl this time of year because of the holidays. I've found them at AC Moore and Michaels, but you can order them from Amazon too. A trifle bowl is important because it makes even layers and you can see the beautiful results.

Ingredients:
Cake - pound cake cubed OR Madelines OR lady fingers
Pudding - I use a pack of Jello pudding.
8 oz. Cool Whip
1 pound Bag of Frozen Mixed Berries
Fresh berries for fruit layer and garnish

You start with a cake layer. There are a couple ways to make this layer. This time I used Madelines I got from Costco (because it's Christmas and I wanted to get fancy). You can also use lady fingers or cut up a pound cake into cubes and use them in the cake layer. Just make sure you've covered the bottom of the bowl in this first layer.

The next layer is a berry layer. You can use fresh or frozen. I used a mix of both for this one because the frozen will thaw and make berry juice that will soak into the cake while the fresh berries stay a little firmer. There are many recipes for different types of trifle and you can use different kinds of fruit. I find that strawberries and blueberries work well. For this trifle, though, I used a bag of frozen mixed berry fruit and added cut up fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries and some fresh blackberries. Mix those up in a bowl, add half of your berries over the cake mixture.

Then comes the creamy layer. I take a pack of jello pudding - this time French vanilla - and fold in a package of cool whip that's slightly thawed. I've also used chocolate pudding and custard pudding - both are delicious. Make the pudding first, let it set and fold in the cool whip. If it's still too frozen to fold in without there being lumps, I take a wire whisk and whisk it until it's smooth. Then add half your creamy mix to the top of the berries.

Then you make another layer of cake, the rest of the fruit and cover it with the rest of your cream. Garnish with fresh berries.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, make this ahead of time so it has a couple hours to soak into itself. It's better if you let it sit for a while and allow the flavors to blend.

Enjoy!