Every Easter, my family gets together for a big meal, and we are always looking for something light but sweet to finish off this decadent affair. One year my aunt suggested I try making a trifle, so I did some research, played around with my own ways of altering recipes to make it less calorie-dense, and I came up with this delicious version. Ever since, I am not allowed to attend a family gathering without bringing this dessert, and in my house it’s always a race to the fridge the next morning to have any leftover trifle for breakfast.
For the cake portion of the trifle, I use the “Joy of Cooking” recipe which can be found on this site: http://www.joyofbaking.com/AngelFoodCake.html. To help reduce the sugar content, I replace half the sugar with Stevia (or you could use any other natural, calorie-free sweetener). Much of my family has Celiacs disease and/or a severe gluten intolerance, so I sub the cake flour for a gluten-free alternative, following the gluten-free flour’s recommended ratio for substitution. Some alternatives produce a more dense cake than normal angel food cakes, but that doesn’t matter for this recipe and is actually preferred because it holds up better with the moisture from the pudding.
Angel Food Cake Ingredients:
- 1 angel food cake, prepared from recipe
- 1 lb fresh strawberries
- 2 6oz containers of fresh raspberries*
- 2 6oz containers of blackberries*
- 2 packages of sugar-free, fat-free vanilla Jello pudding & pie filling
- 4 C non-fat milk
*can use frozen if fresh not available, but drain excess juice and let dry for 5 mins on paper towel before use.
Directions:
- Prepare the angel food cake according to “Joy of Cooking” recipe (see link above). Once out of oven, immediately remove from bundt pan and set aside on a plate to cool.
- Wash the strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries then lay washed berries out on paper towels to dry.
- Cut 3/4 of the strawberries into quartered segments and cut the other 1/4 in half.
- Set aside the halved strawberries as well as 1/3 of the blackberries to use as decoration for the top of the trifle.
- Prepare the Jello pudding packages according to box instructions, using the 4 cups of non-fat milk. Place pudding in fridge to cool.
- Once both the cake and pudding have cooled, cut the angel food cake into small pieces.
- In trifle or other decorative glass bowl, start with small layer of pudding, top with a layer of angel food cake pieces, followed by a layer of fruit, then pour over a layer of pudding.
- Continue alternating layers until the bowl is filled. I usually have about 3 layers each of the pudding, fruit, and cake, but save some pudding to add to as the top layer of the trifle.
- Cover all visible pudding with the set aside strawberries and blackberries. I like to create a decorative topper by alternating the berries in concentric layers, but you can also just pile them on haphazardly for a more rustic look!
- Keep assembled trifle in fridge until ready to serve, then dig in and make sure you get a nice mix of all the layers in each serving!
Bring this to your next family gathering or party and you’ll have the dish everyone’s talking about, both for its look and taste!
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