Strawberry Lemon Trifle with Angel Food Cake

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Our strawberry lemon trifle with angel food cake with such a tasty, pretty dessert that is the perfect addition to any spring or summer bridal shower, potluck, or barbecue! It's easy to customize based on your personal preference or what is in season.

We've got a few shortcuts up our sleeve to make this dessert even simpler. Try buying the lemon curd and angel food cake to make it super-fast to assemble and a true, no bake dessert!

If you love a layered trifle dessert, be sure to try our Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding and our Red Velvet Banana Pudding!

Ingredient Notes

• Angel Food Cake. You can use homemade, store-bought, or a box mix.
• Lemon Curd. You need lemon curd for the lemon mousse, you can use store bought, or make it yourself. To make it yourself you'll need eggs, sugar, cornstarch, salt, fresh lemon juice and lemon zest, water, and butter.
• Cream. Cream goes in the lemon mousse and well as a finishing touch on top of the strawberry lemon trifle.
• Powdered sugar. Powdered sugar is used to sweetened the lemon mousse and whipped cream.
• Vanilla. A touch of vanilla to flavor the whipped cream.
• Strawberries. Use fresh strawberries for best results.
• Sugar. Sugar is used to sweeten the strawberries.

How to Make this Recipe

1. Angel Food Cake. Prepare the angel food cake following the instructions on the box. You can use a tube pan or two loaf pans. Once baked, cool the cake upside down to prevent it from collapsing as it cools. Let it cool completely before using it in the strawberry lemon trifle. Alternatively, you can use a store-bought angel food cake or your favorite homemade recipe.

2. Lemon Curd. If you're using store-bought lemon curd, skip to step 5. To make homemade lemon curd, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a heat-safe bowl for about 2 minutes until the mixture turns pale yellow. Then, whisk in the cornstarch and salt until smooth-there should be no lumps.
3. Cook the Lemon Curd. Add the lemon juice, water, and lemon zest, and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl. Continue to whisk the mixture for about 7 minutes, scraping the sides every 30 seconds. The mixture will thicken and change to a deeper color.

4. Finish the Lemon Curd. Stir in the butter until it's fully melted and incorporated. Remove from heat and continue mixing for another minute. Pour the curd into a clean bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
5. Make the Lemon Mousse. Once the lemon curd has cooled, prepare the lemon mousse by beating 1 cup of heavy cream and ¼ cup powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Gently fold in the lemon curd until fully combined with no streaks.

6. Prepare Strawberries. Wash, dry, and hull 1 pound of strawberries, then dice and mix with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Slice the remaining 1 pound of strawberries lengthwise, keeping the two separate.
7. Whipped Cream. Whip 1 cup of heavy cream with powdered sugar and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. This will be used as the topping for the trifle.

8. Assemble the Trifle. 8a) Slice or tear the angel food cake into bite-sized cubes. 8b) In a large, clear trifle bowl, layer half of the angel food cake cubes at the bottom. 8c) Spread the lemon mousse evenly on top. 8d) Arrange half of the sliced strawberries around the outer edge of the mousse, pressing them against the glass. Fill the center with all of the diced strawberries.

9. Final Layers and Serve. Top with the remaining angel food cake cubes, then spread all of the whipped cream on top. Finish by arranging the remaining sliced strawberries on the very top. I also used some mint leaves for garnish. You can serve the trifle immediately or cover and refrigerate it for up to 4 hours before serving.

Variations of this Recipe

• Swap the fruit. You can easily swap the strawberries in this recipe for blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, etc. 
• Use a different Base. I love the light and airy texture of the angel food cake, but this trifle would also be delicious with pound cake, lemon cake, white cake, cheesecake, vanilla wafers, golden Oreos, or even shortbread cookies.
• Make it red, white, and blue. We often serve this strawberry lemon trifle at BBQs for Memorial Day or the 4^th of July! To make it more festive we'll use a combination of strawberries and blueberries to make it red, white and blue.

Turn this Trifle into Individual Portions

Instead of serving this in a large trifle bowl, we turning it into individual portions. This is great for something like a baby shower, bridal shower, wedding, etc.

How many individual portions you get will depend on how large you make them. You can portion this into mason jars, bowls, glass cups-any shape, or use clear plastic, disposable cups for easy clean up.

To make assembly quick, create an assembly line with your cups, filling the bottom with cake first, then lemon mousse, strawberries, more cake, followed by whipped cream and a strawberry for garnish.

I recommend putting the lemon mousse and whipped cream into piping bags to speed up the process while assembling.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How to Serve Store this Recipe

Strawberry lemon trifle with angel food cake is best served fresh or within a few hours of being assembled. If serving it in a large trifle dish, I recommend using a large serving spoon to serve it to be sure everyone can dig down deep into the layers of the trifle and not miss out.

While the trifle itself will stay good for several days, if kept covered and refrigerated, the texture of the trifle will begin to soften. The strawberries will begin to release their juices as they sit, the angel food cake is so light it will absorb the juices and go soft.

You can always prepare the individual elements of the strawberry lemon trifle ahead of time and assemble it quickly before it needs to be served.

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