There is no better way to welcome the holidays than with this festive bowl of Holiday Berry Trifle – a treat that a whole family can enjoy!
Winter holidays are all about traditional sweet treats. For me, it’s hard to imagine the holidays if I don’t spend a day (or five) making a bunch of sweet treats. It doesn’t get any better with a blast of holiday music and two toddlers dancing to it, while I hang out in the kitchen cooking. Cheers to the holiday spirit!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the winter holidays. It’s cozy and magical. I’m a sucker for sparkling lights, pretty decorations and, of course, sweets.
When it comes to sweets, I can practice self control all I want until pretty layers of trifle are involved. At that point, all reasons and excuses go flying out the door and a big spoonful heads straight into my mouth. Oye!
Waiting to dig into this Holiday Berry Trifle until after I had taken the pictures was hard. When perfectly layered fruit jelly, covered with rich white chocolate custard, sponge cake, fresh berries and pillowy mascarpone cream whisper your name, one can only practice so much self control.
HOW TO PREPARE HOLIDAY BERRY TRIFLE
You can start preparing the layers for this Holiday Berry Trifle one or two days ahead of time. Then just assemble the layers on the day of serving and you are all set!
I prepared the jelly layer, made custard and baked some super simple and delicious sponge cake a day ahead, so my Holiday Berry Trifle was ready to be layered the next morning. I prefer making my own jelly using unflavoured gelatin and juice because the boxed jello is just too artificial to me. Plus it’s so easy to make yourself!
Cut the sponge cake in cubes or crumble it on top of the custard and sprinkle with fresh berries. Just before assembling your Holiday Berry Trifle whip up mascarpone cheese with heavy cream, sugar and a few drops of orange liquor. Decorate with more berries and fresh mint.
Then just dig in and make the most beautiful mess out of it. It’s a holiday dessert that will disappear in a flash!
More Holiday Dessert Recipes:
Holiday Cranberry and Pomegranate Pavlova
Pistachio Cranberry Snowflake Cookies
Holiday Berry Trifle
Ingredients
Sponge Cake
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
Jelly
- 3 cups regular cranberry juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup strawberries halved
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar optional (depending on juice tartness)
White Chocolate Custard
- 2 cups milk full fat
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 2 oz white chocolate chopped
Mascarpone Cream
- 1 cup mascarpone cheese
- 2 tbsp orange liquor optional
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Extras
- 2 punnets strawberries
- 1 punnet raspberries
- 1 punnet blueberries
- fresh mint
Instructions
Sponge Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of a 9'' cake pan with parchment paper.
- Beat eggs in a bowl with a mixer on high speed for 1 minute. Gradually add sugar and continue beating until thick and fluffy, about 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Then sift it into the egg mixture. Fold with the spatula until just incorporated and stop mixing when no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix the batter or it will deflate.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 23-25 min or until top is golden brown. Once baked, remove from the oven and let cool for 5 min. Then run the knife around the edges of a pan and dump the sponge cake onto the wire rack to cool. Peel off the parchment paper. Once cool, store in an airtight container.
Jelly:
- Wash and hull strawberries, then cut in half. Set aside.
- Heat up half of cranberry juice in a small pan until just simmers. Turn off heat and stir in sugar (if using).
- In a separate bowl place remaining cold juice and sprinkle with gelatin. Stir, let sit for 2 min and stir again.
- Add warm juice to cold juice, stir and pour mixture into the trifle bowl. Refrigerate until semi-firm, about 2-3 hours.
- Push strawberries around the sides and some in the center of jelly. Refrigerate until firm, at least another 3 hours, or overnight.
White Chocolate Custard:
- In a large bowl whisk together egg yolks, 1/3 cup milk, sugar and cornstarch.
- In a heavy sauce pan, heat remaining milk over medium heat until simmering, then gradually whisk the milk into yolk mixture. Return to pan and cook whisking until thick enough to mound on a spoon, about 5-7 min.
- Remove from heat and strain through fine sieve into a clean bowl. Stir in white chocolate until melted. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of custard and refrigerate until cold, about 4 hrs or overnight.
Mascarpone Cream:
- Just before assembling your Holiday Berry Trifle, make the cream by folding together mascarpone cheese with liquor in a large bowl until incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, beat together heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy with soft peaks. Use a spatula to fold half of the whipped cream into mascarpone to lighten it, then fold in remaining cream and blend until fully incorporated.
Trifle Assembly:
- Pour cooled white chocolate custard on top of jelly layer.
- Crumble cake on top of custard. Sprinkle with berries.
- Cover with mascarpone cream
- Decorate with more berries, fresh mint and powdered sugar.
Notes
How perfect for the festive season! Love how the strawberries are used to line the outer rim – makes for a gorgeous trifle decoration. Thanks for sharing such a fabulous recipe!
Thank you so much, Jeannette!
Thank you for the great idea to make this berry trifle for the upcoming holidays. It is the perfect alternative to traditional cakes and other desserts. I am excited. 🙂
Thank you so much Irina! Me too!
You can’t beat a trifle for a Christmas dessert. This berry version looks stunning.
Thank you!!
Trifle is one of my all time favourite desserts and your version looks absolutely delicious!!
Thank you so much, Chris!
Just wow.. I love this colorful holiday treat. Bookmarked to make this berry trifle for my Christmas party. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Thank you so much, Ipsa! I hope you love it!
Wow! Was at Foodgawker and so this beauty. What a treat, I love everything about it.
Made it for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit! Beautiful presentation, perfect combination of ingredients, not overly sweet, light and refreshing! Awesome recipe!
Made this for my family for Christmas. Actually, it is our first time trying trifle. Everyone loved it including the kids. Thanks for this wonderful recipe