A Simple Patriotic Trifle

A trifle really takes the cake!

What to do with that leftover cake or cupcakes? Add pudding and fruit for a simple trifle that is so elegant it looks like it should be more complicated to make.

You might have originally intended to decorate the cupcakes with blueberries and strawberries like an American Flag.

Maybe it didn’t work out. Perhaps the whole thing looked stupid and beforeyoutossedeverythingoutthebackdoor you thought “How can I salvage this mess?”

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Make a trifle, the answer is to make a trifle

This time it worked out perfectly for Memorial Day as a red, white, and blue Patriotic trifle. Good Save! I’m going to make the same dish for the 4th of July. Hey, what about President’s Day or Veteran’s Day. It will be a good choice for any of the patriotic holidays that you plan to celebrate.

I just happen to have a large glass bowl that I bought specifically for making layered salads and trifles. They look so pretty when you can see all of the delicious edible layers.

An easy, classic, elegant dessert, it takes very few ingredients. You can make a no-cook, no-bake version. Using instant pudding, a store-bought cake, and fresh fruits and you don’t even have to turn on the stove or the oven for this dessert.

This can be your go-to dish when you are asked to bring something to a party.

An elegant dessert

Be ready to impress your guests at any get-together with this easy trifle recipe and salvage the cupcakes and your ego all at the same time.

Trifles are so versatile. You can use any cake, any pudding, any flavor. You can use doughnuts or angel food cake. Pound cake or Twinkies. Chocolate cake, Pecan pie, Oreos, or Lady Fingers. The cake that broke apart when you tried to remove it from the pan. The leftover birthday cake.

Think of your favorite dessert and I’ll bet it can be deconstructed and turned into a trifle. Wow, that’s exactly what a trifle is. It’s a deconstructed dessert.  

You don’t have to know how to cook. You don’t even need leftover cupcakes. Instant pudding involves measuring and pouring milk into a bowl, adding pudding, and stirring. Buy a pound cake or an angel food cake from the grocery store bakery and you have the makings of a trifle. 

This is how you make a trifle

Cut the cake into cubes. Make the pudding. I had a dozen cupcakes and I used the larger 5.1oz (six servings) box of pudding. Add a layer of cake to a beautiful glass bowl, add a layer of pudding, a layer of fruit if you wish, and repeat until you fill the bowl.

Since my original plan involved strawberries and blueberries, I used them for my Patriotic trifle.

Top with whipped cream or fruit if you’d like.

That’s a basic trifle. You can add berries, peaches, or marshmallows; mix it up to suit the season. You can’t go wrong with this easy summer trifle recipe.

Make individual servings in pretty glasses or small jars.

There’s no end to the variations you can make on this dessert. Change it up for any season or any occasion. 

It doesn’t matter your skill level in the kitchen, it’s not expensive, and it’s about the most elegant dessert you can make.

I’m talking magazine-cover elegant. Show off in front of your friends, your boss, your mother-in-law.  

Now if you find yourself with leftover cupcakes, or cakes that broke apart while you tried to get them out of the pan, or cinnamon rolls that you don’t know what to do with, yeah, like that’s gonna happen, you are now armed with a genius solution.