How to Make a 4th of July Strawberry Angel Cake Trifle

The Fourth of July has been celebrated with parades, speeches, music and food since 1777. Today, a large part of our celebrations center around picnics, parades and fireworks. From formal affairs to the backyard barbecue, festive desserts are always crowd pleasers.

One of the easiest, yet most festive, desserts to prepare is a Strawberry Angel Cake Trifle. It is a great hot weather dessert made up of the season’s freshest fruits that can be found at any produce store – strawberries. Layers of angel cake are topped with strawberries and blueberries, with a creamy cheesecake flavored layer holding it all together. It can be made well in advance, travels well and is sure to be gone by the picnic’s end.

Preparation:

To make a Strawberry Angel Cake Trifle you will need a trifle bowl, a few bowls for mixing, a serrated knife, a cutting board, and a strawberry corer and slicer. If a strawberry corer and slicer is not available, a second cutting board and paring knife will do.

Ingredients:

You will need: 1-1/2 quarts of fresh strawberries, 1/2 quart of blueberries, 16 ounce container of whipped topping, 8 ounce block of cream cheese, 1 small package of cheesecake-flavored pudding mix, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and one angel food cake.

The angel food cake can be purchased from a local bakery or grocery store, or be made at home. If making the angel food cake at home, you can use a jelly roll pan to bake it in to save time when cubing it later.

Get Started!

To start, wash the blueberries and set them aside. Wash and slice strawberries. Set a few of the prettiest strawberry slices and blueberries aside to decorate the top of the trifle. Combine the remainder of the sliced strawberries and blueberries; sprinkle with a pinch of sugar if desired. Cut the angel food cake in to one-inch cubes with the serrated knife. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese, the cheesecake pudding mix and the powdered sugar together until they are combined. Gently fold in the whipped topping mix.

Further Steps:

Layer the ingredients in the trifle bowl. Cover the bottom of the trifle bowl with the cubed angel food cake. Using one-third of the strawberries and blueberries, cover the cubed angel food cake.

For a more decorative look, press strawberries end-to-end along the edge of the trifle bowl. Cover this layer with approximately one-third of the whipped topping mixture. Repeat these layers twice more. On the last layer of the whipped topping mixture, arrange the strawberries slices and blueberries reserved for the top of the trifle bowl.

Decoration:

A popular arrangement for the Fourth of July is a star pattern. To create this look, lay the strawberries in such a way as to outline the star, then fill it in with blueberries. Leftover strawberries can be placed along the rim of the trifle bowl. Covering the entire top of the trifle bowl in alternating stripes of strawberries and blueberries is also a great option for a Fourth of July Strawberry Angel Cake Trifle.