This is the dessert you make when you want something that looks like a lot more effort than it actually is. Angel food cake soaked in a Lemon-almond syrup, layered with sweet blueberries and strawberries, and a whipped Cream Cheese filling that’s lighter than frosting but richer than plain whipped cream. It comes together in a glass bowl so the layers show, which does about ninety percent of the work for you.
Why You’ll Love It
No baking required — just slice, layer, and chill, so your oven stays free for everything else on the table
Make-ahead friendly — assembles the night before and actually tastes better once it’s had time to chill
Feeds a crowd— one trifle dish does the job of several smaller desserts
Holds up in the heat — stays cool and fresh-tasting even after sitting out at a summer cookout
Looks like a showstopper — the visible layers do all the visual work without any decorating skill required
A Few Notes on the Ingredients
The angel food cake — I buy it. I want to say that loud and clear up front because some recipe people act like buying a pre-made angel food cake is some kind of moral failing, and I am here to tell you it is not. My mother made hers from scratch with twelve egg whites and a copper bowl she was very precious about, and I did try that once, maybe twice, and both times something went wrong with the whipping and I ended up irritated in my own kitchen on a holiday, which defeats the purpose. Store-bought is fine. It’s more than fine.
Cream cheese needs to actually be room temperature, not “I left it out for ten minutes while I did the dishes” temperature. If it’s cold you’ll get little lumps in your whipped cream cheese and you’ll spend twenty minutes trying to beat them out and just end up with soup. I learned this the hard way more than once, so let it sit, go fold some laundry, come back to it.
The lemon juice — fresh, not the bottled kind, though I won’t tell anyone if you use the bottled kind in a pinch. There’s a difference, but it’s not a difference anyone’s going to notice over a Roman candle going off in the backyard.
Berries — whatever’s good. I say two pints of each but some years the blueberries at the store look sad and small and I’ll do more strawberries instead, or throw in raspberries if they’re not charging an arm and a leg for them, which they usually are right around the holiday, funny how that works.
For Complete Cooking STEPS Please Head On Over To Next Page Or Open button (>) and don’t forget to SHARE with your Facebook friends
ADVERTISEMENT
