If you like cold, fruity desserts and the taste of lemon meringue pie paired with a flavorful layer of fluffy cake, this Creamy Dreamy Trifle is for you 🙂
It’s the perfect summer treat!
Recipe Ingredients:
- A 9×13 yellow cake**, baked and cooled*
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Cool Whip
- Lemon Juice
- Fruit of your choice. I am using strawberries, bananas, and grapes. You can use canned fruit (drain it first), whatever is on sale where you live, or your favorite fruits.
**For the cake…
You can just use a mix or you can use my recipe to make a yellow cake from scratch that is found in my book, Come Home To Supper (click here to order).
I’m using light whipped topping.
Some would say that is silly considering the calories in the cake and sweetened condensed milk but cutting a few calories here and there where you can is always helpful, even if just a little bit.
Having said that, you just use whatever cranks your tractor.
To begin with we need to make our topping. In a large mixing bowl, place sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, whipped topping.
Mix that together really well with a wire whisk until well blended. This will take a couple of minutes.
Now dip your finger in and have a little taste. Isn’t that lovely?
If anyone was offended by me telling folks to dip their finger into the topping, then get unoffended before continuing to read this.
It’s just that easy 😉
Crumble half of your cake into the bottom of a trifle bowl or punch bowl.
My trifle bowl ended up being a little small for this so feel free to use a punch bowl or larger one.
In the end, My kids had to eat a little bit of cake. Their lives are all difficult like that sometimes, but they are troopers!
Top that with 1/2 of your topping mixture that tastes like heavenly lemony clouds.
Now add in some sliced fruit.
I didn’t slice my grapes though, I just threw them in.
It is important to disobey at least one instruction in every recipe you make just to give your rebellious side a chance to see the light of day.
Top this with more cake, half of it if it will fit.
Then top that with the rest of your topping and decorate the top heavily with fruit.
I got all design-ish on this but you could really just chop fruit and pile it up there and it would still be pretty!
Cover this and refrigerate for an hour or so before serving, or eat right away if you want. It gets better when it gets cold though 🙂
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix prepared according to package directions in a 9x13 pan, baked, and cooled
- 16 ounces Cool Whip light, fat free, or regular
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- Assorted seasonal fruit such as strawberries grapes, bananas, oranges, pineapple, etc.*
Instructions
- In large mixing bowl, combine cool whip, sweetened condensed milk, and lemon juice. Stir with wire whisk until well blended.
- In a punch bowl or trifle bowl, break up half of the cake. Top with 1/2 of lemon mixture. Top with half of fruit, remaining cake, remaining pudding mixture, and decorate top heavily with more fruit.
- Cover and refrigerate for a few hours before serving, if possible. Can serve immediately but it is even better cold.
*If using bananas, dip each slice in orange juice or a little lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Use as much of whatever fruit you like best or is on sale as you want. Can use canned fruit from the pantry, just drain it well before adding into the trifle bowl.
Other trifle recipes you may also like are:
Strawberry Punch Bowl Cake AKA Strawberry Trifle
“It’s easier to magnify the faults of another than to work and eliminate flaws within yourself.”
~Rick Wolfe
Hi Christy,
I am wondering if I make this a day ahead, will it get too mushy? Thanks for all of your great recipes!! 🙂
I have made it a day ahead and it was great. Just avoid fruits that would brown like apples and bananas 🙂
Thank you Christy!!!