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Easy Strawberry Trifle with Pound Cake

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The sweet strawberries, creamy pudding and pound cake really come together and scream deliciousness in this super easy strawberry trifle with pound cake recipe.  This strawberry dessert will be a complete hit with all your guests!

Strawberry trifle with pound cake

Easy Strawberry Trifle with Pound Cake Recipe:

Don’t you just love strawberry season?

I’ve written about it a few times before, but we have a fantastic little strawberry farm about 30 minutes down the road. I’ve taken the kids there every year since my youngest was 2. (I have some of the cutest pictures of them in the strawberries.) 

In the last few years we’ve timed our visit so we were able to pick strawberries, blackberries, potatoes and a couple of times, even peaches.

We plan to hit the farm up for strawberries and blackberries this coming Friday since will be out of school. (No peaches this year, we had a late March freeze that froze all the blooms.)

So in the meantime, I’ve been having to make my strawberry recipes with just regular ol’ grocery store strawberries.  (Poor me, lol.)

The Best Dessert Recipe for Fresh Strawberries:

Today I want to share a favorite dessert recipe for fresh strawberries: this easy Strawberry Trifle with Pound Cake Recipe.  (And yes, at one point, I totally had to google whether trifle was pronounced with a short I or long I, lol.  Listen how to pronounce trifle here.)

Strawberry Trifle Recipe:

Is strawberry trifle made with angel food cake or pound cake?

Traditionally, trifles are made with a type of sponge cake and soaked with sherry.  There are plenty of easy trifle recipes out on the web. Some use angel food cake and others use pound cake. (Angel food cake is similar to sponge cake, but without egg yolks and pound cake is a sponge cake with butter.)

In my opinion, and the reason I use pound cake in this recipe, is that the pound cake holds up better and helps the trifle last longer in the fridge.  Pound cake also just tastes better -rich, buttery – yum! (After all, pound cake gets its name from the pound of butter used in the original recipe.

How many layers does a trifle have?

This strawberry trifle recipe has 3 layers of 3 ingredients, so 9 layers total. (Pound cake layer, pudding layer, fruit layer, then repeat the layers 2 more times.)  The good news is, trifle recipes are super flexible.

Depending on the serving dish, you could do one set of three layers (like a banana pudding would be) or 2 sets of three, 3 sets of three, etc.  Whatever works for you.  The taste will be the same, but the presentation will look different.

What is the Best Dish to Serve a Trifle In?

Believe it or not, the dish I used in these photos is called a Trifle Bowl. A trifle bowl is made of clear glass and usually has straight sides and a flat-ish bottom to show off the layers of your recipe.

I am pretty sure I purchased my trifle bowl from a Walmart store.  In case you are wondering, the bowl I used is 8 inches in diameter and 5 inches deep.  Here is a similar trifle bowl on amazon.  (I also have the mini trifle bowls, I love them, but I didn’t have enough to do this recipe in. I mainly use those small trifle bowls when making pudding – everybody gets an equal serving.)

Easy Strawberry Trifle with Pound Cake

What’s the secret to making the best trifle?

The secret to why this trifle recipe is so yummy is I use macerated strawberries, which makes the strawberries even yummier. By adding sugar to fresh strawberries, the sugar pulls the liquid out of the strawberries and makes a strawberry sugar syrup. You then will pour the strawberry syrup over the pound cake layers. The pound cake absorbs all that yummy strawberry sweetness for an even better flavor!

Ingredients in Strawberry Trifle:

If you’re heading to the store, these are the ingredients to add to your list:

  • 2 lbs container of Strawberries
  • sugar
  • large box of instant vanilla pudding (the one with 6 servings,) plus the ingredients to make it
  • tub of cool whip
  • 16 oz pound cake

How to make this Easy Strawberry Trifle:

You’ll love how easy this is to make!

  1. Start with your quartered strawberries and add the sugar to start the macerating process.how to macerate strawberries
  2. Slice a store-bought pound cake into cubes.how to make strawberry trifle with pound cake
  3. Make the pudding mixture and give the strawberries and pudding about 30 more minutes in the fridge.
  4. Put together your layers and Voilà! You’ve made a Strawberry Trifle!

strawberry trifle

How amazing would it have been if I had added a layer of blueberries to the trifle for a red, white, and blueberry trifle!

Can trifle be made the day before?

Technically, you can make a trifle the day before, but this recipe is at its best between 4 and 24 hours. so plan your preparation accordingly. (This trifle recipe will last 3 to 4 days in the fridge.  It will still taste great, but the older it gets, the looser the trifle becomes as the strawberries begin to soften more. (Sugar is a natural preservative and by macerating the strawberries, it not only intensifies the flavors of the berry, but it also helps extend the life of the berries.)

strawberry trifle dessert

How good does that look?  The sweet strawberries, creamy pudding, and pound cake really come together and scream deliciousness in this super easy strawberry trifle recipe.  They say a photo can speak 1000 words, and I just don’t think I can say more than the photo below does, lol.  You have to make this trifle recipe at your very next opportunity.

strawberry trifle with pound cake

Still have strawberry leftovers?  Here are a bunch more strawberry dessert recipes using fresh strawberries that you might also like to try:

Tried This Strawberry Trifle Recipe?

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strawberry trifle

Easy Strawberry Trifle with Pound Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 60 reviews
  • Author: Jamie Sanders
  • Prep Time: 35 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes plus time in fridge
  • Yield: 12 servings 1x

Description

The sweet strawberries, creamy pudding and pound cake really come together and scream deliciousness in this super easy strawberry trifle recipe.  This strawberry dessert will be a complete hit with all your guests!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 32 oz (2 lbs container) fresh strawberries
  • 16 oz container pound cake, cubed
  • Package of instant vanilla pudding (the one with 6 servings)
  • 3 cups milk (for the pudding)
  • 8 oz tub of Cool Whip
  • 1/2 cup sugar

Instructions

  1. Add the sugar to the strawberries and toss to coat.  Set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes, tossing at least once or twice more..
  2. Prepare the pudding as directed. Gently fold in Cool Whip.  Set aside in the fridge, til needed.
  3. After the strawberries have sat with the sugar for at least 30 minutes, strain the strawberry sugar syrup into a container with a pourable lip.  (That way you won’t waste any of that sweet strawberry syrup.)
  4. Layer your ingredients into the trifle bowl in this order: 1/3 pound cake, then pour 1/3 of strawberry syrup over the pound cake, 1/3 of pudding mixture and then 2/5 of strawberries.  Repeat these layers twice more, the final layer of strawberries should be slightly less.  (1/5 verses the 2/5 used in earlier layers)
  5. Refrigerate strawberry trifle for at least 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!

Notes

Nutrition calculated with original cool whip, non-sugar-free pudding, and 2% milk. I have used sugar-free pudding and cool whip light and the strawberry trifle is just as good.


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1/12 of recipe
  • Calories: 200
  • Fat: 5
  • Carbohydrates: 39
  • Fiber: 2
  • Protein: 3

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108 Comments

  1. Jane Armstrong says:

    Can I substitute with strawberry or orange flavored pudding instead of vanilla?

    1. Jamie Sanders says:

      I have not tested that flavor profile. Technically, yes you could, however I’m not sure how it would taste.

  2. it’s so easy and yummy






  3. Made this for a cook out and it was a hit






  4. I’ve always wanted to make a trifle. Strawberries are my favorite. Its delicious and so easy. Thank you for the recipe. 😊






  5. Yum! 😍Been making this for years! Family always asks for it for their birthdays! Yummy






  6. you don’t say to cut strawberries but it looks like you did in the photos.

  7. This sounds delicious! Could I put this together the night before or would it get too soggy? Thanks!

  8. Can you use strawberries and raspberries? One layer with strawberries and one layer raspberries (soaked in sugar)
    Also do you let pudding cool before folding in coolwhip? I didn’t . Hope it turns out right. I’ll see in an hour or two.

    1. Jamie Sanders says:

      Yes, if you are using the cook pudding instead of instant it will need to cool. also I think raspberries and strawberries sound great.

  9. My family loved this desert.






  10. Just a note, the recipe says 3 cups of milk for the pudding, the pudding box says 2. Three is too much, doesn’t thicken, too watery. Otherwise it’s a delicious simple recipe.

    1. Jamie Sanders says:

      Not true. This recipe calls for the large family sized box of pudding that uses three cups of milk. (The one with 6 servings.)

  11. Made home made pound cake and home made whipped cream and added strawberry gel. Turned out amazing






    1. Hi could you advise if this can be made a day ahead? Thanks so much.

  12. Easy and delicious. I used half as many strawberries as it called for (what I had on hand) and twice as much cool whip!






  13. It was so yummy!! Also purchased a versatile dish $7.95 at Walmart and I can use it for something else.






  14. Made with cheesecake pudding yummy






  15. Purvi Shah says:

    I made this for my daughter’s birthday party with an eggless vanilla cake base (egg allergy). It was equally enjoyed as the store bought cake. The strawberry sugar water and custard kept the vanilla cake moist, which sometimes is hard for egg free cakes. This cake was a hit! Thank you for the awesome recipe.






  16. Spectacularly stunning!






  17. Made this for Easter, used 2 14 oz pound cakes, turned out great!