Vegan Berry Trifle

This berry trifle is really easy to make, but it looks spectacular as the centerpiece on your holiday dessert table! You need to plan ahead, though, as you will need a pound or bundt cake, chilled vanilla pudding, chilled whipped topping, and mostly defrosted berries to make it, and then the trifle needs to chill for a couple of hours.

I always prefer my own gluten free flour blend, but it requires my egg replacement which is not available yet. (Soon, I promise, and then we will bake up a storm!) For this trifle, I wanted to use a cake recipe that you could make right now, and I was very happy with how this vegan and gluten free lemon bundt cake recipe from Sarah Bakes Gluten Free turned out. It worked very well in the trifle, but I would add an extra 1/4 tsp of salt for my taste. I only wanted to make enough of the recommended flour to use in the cake (3 1/3 c), and that worked out to be:

• 180 g (1 1/2 c) Brown Rice Flour
• 120 g (3/4 c) White Rice Flour
• 105 g (3/4 c) Potato Starch
•  24 g (3 TBS) Tapioca Starch
•  24 g (3 TBS) Cornstarch
•  5.6 g (1 7/8 tsp) Xanthan Gum

Make your cake and let it cool completely before cutting it into 1 1/4″ to 1 1/2″ cubes for the trifle. You can use any vegan pound or bundt cake that you like!

Toast your almond slices for five to eight minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until they are golden brown. Watch them closely to prevent burning. I used 60 g (1/2 c) of almonds, and had plenty left over.

I used a three-pound bag of mixed berries and a 16 oz jar of jam. This made more of the berry mixture than I needed for the trifle, but the extra was really yummy on oatmeal so I didn’t mind!

Add your mostly defrosted berries to a mixing bowl, then add the jam and stir to combine. Note: If you will be waiting more than two hours to serve your trifle, I would fully defrost the berries and cook them for a couple of minutes in the microwave until they release a good bit of juice. Drain the juice off and then stir in the jam. This will help prevent too much bleeding of the berry juice into your cake layers.

Whisk your chilled vanilla pudding until it is smooth and creamy. Note: I used the medium amount (56 g) of cornstarch for this pudding as directed in my pudding recipe.

Now you are ready to assemble your trifle! Use a large flat-bottomed glass trifle bowl for the best results. You can also make little individual trifles, and they look very nice too!

Add a big spoonful of the pudding to the bottom of your bowl and spread it out evenly:

Place cubes of cake on top of the pudding, being mindful of how they look from the outside:

Add a thick layer of the berry mixture, being careful not to smear the bowl:

Add half of the remaining pudding and very carefully spread it out. (I skimped a little because I wanted to save some pudding to make a few Individual trifles, so my layer is a bit too thin.)

Add another layer of cake cubes:

Then add more of the berry mixture:

And the rest of the pudding:

Top with whipped topping to fill your bowl. Note: you do not need to add the agar to your whipped topping unless you plan to pipe it. The topping shown was made without agar.

Sprinkle the top with some of the toasted almonds:

Garnish with fresh raspberries. I had 12 oz in the photo of the ingredients above, but only needed half of them. Chill your trifle in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. (Do not cover it.) Your trifle will be good to eat for several days, but it will look prettiest if served within a few hours.

Trifle is such a lovely dessert!

You can use lots different glasses to make individual trifles. Just use one layer of each ingredient for shallower glasses:

To serve a large trifle, use a big spoon to get all the way to the bottom of your trifle bowl. Top each serving with additional whipped topping, toasted almonds, and fresh raspberries!

Enjoy!