Looking for a festive and easy-to-make dessert? This Red, White, and Blue Trifle is the perfect treat for patriotic holidays like the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, or any summer gathering. With layers of fluffy vanilla cake, creamy pudding, and fresh berries, it's a beautiful and delicious dessert that comes together effortlessly.
This no-fuss trifle is ideal for serving at BBQs, picnics, or potlucks. It's light, refreshing, and customizable, making it a go-to summer dessert that looks as good as it tastes.
Jump to:
- Why You Will Love This Red, White, and Blue Trifle Dessert
- Ingredients
- Substitutions and Variations
- How to Make Red, White, and Blue Trifle
- More Recipes You Will Love
- How to Store Red, White, and Blue Trifle Dessert
- What to Serve with our Red, White, and Blue Trifle
- Top Tips
- Frequently Asked Questions About Red, White, and Blue Trifle Dessert
- More Recipes You Will Love
- Red, White and Blue Trifle Recipe
If you are looking for other red, white and blue recipes that are great for July 4th, Memorial Day Weekend or Labor Day, you can try our Red, White, and Blue Fruit Cups or our Red, White, and Blue Dump Cake. If you’re a fan of making festive desserts for the holidays, you need to give these a try: Easter Blondies, No Bake Mini Egg Cheesecake Bars, Carrot Sheet Cake, Christmas Cake Mix Cookies, Halloween Cake Mix Cookies and Grasshopper Pie.
Why You Will Love This Red, White, and Blue Trifle Dessert
- Easy to Make: Uses store-bought or homemade vanilla cake and instant pudding for a quick dessert.
- Perfect for Gatherings: Serves a crowd and looks stunning in a large trifle dish.
- Refreshing and Light: The combination of berries, pudding, and cake creates a balanced, airy dessert.
- Customizable: Swap in different fruits or flavors to make it your own.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: Prepare in advance and keep chilled until ready to serve.
Ingredients
A short trip to the grocery store and you will be back in the car on your way to put together this trifle.
See the recipe card below for the exact quantities of each ingredient.
- Vanilla Cake: Any style vanilla, French vanilla or white cake is a great option. One rectangular or 2 round cakes is enough to make this recipe work.
- Pudding Mix and Milk: To make a creamy, smooth addition to cake, and a juxtaposition to the texture of the berries.
- Cool Whip: Used both to add extra lightness to the pudding layers and used to garnish the top.
- Fresh Strawberries: A sweet fruit that gives the patriotic red for this July 4th recipe.
- Fresh Blueberries: A tart berry that offers a patriotic blue for this festive dessert.
For this easy dessert recipe, you'll want to have on hand measuring cups, trifle bowl, large mixing bowl and hand mixer, and a spatula.
Substitutions and Variations
Love this simple recipe but want to make it your own? There is a lot you can do to mix this up.
- Cake Swap: Use angel food cake, a store-bought pound cake, or sponge cake instead of vanilla cake. You can mix it up and make a chocolate version too!
- Pudding: Change up the vanilla pudding for cheesecake or white chocolate pudding for a twist.
- Red Fruit Substitute: Swap or mix in other red fruits for varieties like cherries, fresh raspberries, red grapes or pomegranate seeds for alternatives for a patriotic celebration!
- Blue Fruit Substitute: Change up the blue fruits with some Concord grapes or blackberries.
- Cool Whip Alternative: Substitute with homemade whipped cream for a richer flavor.
- Dairy-Free Option: Use almond or coconut milk in the pudding and a dairy-free whipped topping.
How to Make Red, White, and Blue Trifle
Here are some photos to show you how to assemble the different layers of this easy dessert.
In a large bowl add instant pudding mix and milk and beat on medium speed until it starts to thicken with a hand mixer.
Fold in ½ tub of Cool Whip and set aside.
Start to layer your trifle by adding a layer of cake pieces to the trifle bowl (use almost half the cake), followed by half of the pudding.
Layer cut strawberries along the inside wall of the trifle bowl, then a small perimeter of blueberries, followed by cake in the centre.
Add the remaining pudding, then blueberries all along the edge of the dish with the remaining cake in the center.
Top the remaining cool whip on top of the visible cake, and garnish with any fresh fruit as desired.
Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
Hint: Use cold ingredients, this helps the pudding set faster and keeps the whipped topping stable.
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How to Store Red, White, and Blue Trifle Dessert
This great dessert is so easy to put together in a flash, but here are some ways to speed up the process.
- Refrigerator: Prepare your pudding up to 5 days in advance and leave in an airtight container.
- Make Ahead: We recommend assembling the trifle the day you plan to serve it and keep in the fridge.
What to Serve with our Red, White, and Blue Trifle
- Iced Matcha Latte: A refreshing, slightly earthy contrast to the sweet trifle.
- Caramel Mocha: A rich and indulgent pairing for coffee lovers.
- Strawberry Lemonade: Enhances the fruity flavors with a tart and sweet balance. We have a delicious honey strawberry lemonade recipe that can also be paired with our Hennessy strawberry lemonade cocktail.
- Classic BBQ Dishes: Perfect alongside grilled burgers, hot dogs, or BBQ chicken. Our BBQ Sliders are a perfect pairing or try them on Hawaiian rolls.
- Berry Sangria: A light and fruity cocktail pairing.
- Blueberry Desserts: For extra blueberry flavors serve alongside our lemon blueberry cookies, lemon blueberry dump cake or blueberry lemon scones.
- Strawberry Desserts: Enhance the strawberry with our easy strawberry mousse, strawberry crisp, frozen strawberry margarita or our strawberry rhubarb dump cake.
Top Tips
Here are some of our helpful tips to make this perfect summer dessert.
- Cut Even Cake Cubes: This ensures even layers and a beautiful presentation.
- Chill Before Serving: Letting the trifle sit in the fridge for at least an hour enhances the flavors.
- Layer Strategically: Place berries along the edge of the dish for a more decorative finish.
- Make Individual Servings: Use small glasses or mason jars for a fun, single-serve option.
Frequently Asked Questions About Red, White, and Blue Trifle Dessert
Do you have questions about red, white, and blue trifle?
While you can prepare each individual component of this recipe in advance (baking the cake, washing and slicing the berries, making pudding etc.) we recommend waiting for the day you will be serving it to assemble it.
Fresh berries work best, but if you are using frozen berries, be sure to thaw and drain them well to avoid any extra moisture.
Homemade whipped ream or stabilized whipped cream are both great options.
For the best texture and freshest flavor, we recommend that a fruit trifle is best enjoyed within 2 days of assembly.
Absolutely. A thin layer of strawberry or blueberry jam can enhance the fruity flavors.
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Red, White and Blue Trifle Recipe
Equipment
- Trifle Bowl
- Measuring Cups
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Spatula
- Hand Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 3.4- ounce instant vanilla pudding
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 vanilla cake cut into 1 ½“cubes
- 1 8- ounce tub Cool Whip divided
- 1 cup fresh strawberries sliced (or more)
- 2 cups fresh blueberries or more
Instructions
- In a large bowl add instant pudding mix and milk and beat on medium speed until it starts to thicken with a hand mixer.
- Fold in ½ tub of Cool Whip and set aside.
- Start to layer your trifle by adding a layer of cake pieces to the trifle bowl (use almost half the cake), followed by half of the pudding.
- Layer cut strawberries along the inside wall of the trifle bowl, then a small perimeter of blueberries, followed by cake in the centre.
- Add the remaining pudding, then blueberries all along the edge of the dish with the remaining cake in the center.
- Top the remaining cool whip on top of the visible cake, and garnish with any fresh fruit as desired.
- Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
Notes
- Use cold ingredients, this helps the pudding set faster and keeps the whipped topping stable.
- Cut the cubes of cake evenly to ensure even layers and a beautiful presentation.
- Letting the trifle sit in the fridge for at least an hour enhances the flavors.
- Place berries along the edge of the dish for a more decorative finish.
- Use small glasses or mason jars for a fun, single-serve option.
Nutrition
We would be so grateful for you to leave us a rating and review on any recipes you try. If you make any alterations, let us know how they turned out.
Risa says
This is a stunning summer dessert! Saving this to make for the 4th, can’t wait to try it!
Eva Filer says
Thank you. Enjoy it, such a fun one to mix up.
Jo says
Great recipe. Easy to make and delicious.
Eva Filer says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Abi says
Such a beautiful patriotic dessert you have made, amazing, love it!
Eva Filer says
So glad you enjoy it too. We love doing recipes like this.
Eva Filer says
I love how much flexibility and versatility there is with a trifle! You can mix up the flavor of cake or even use 2 bite desserts. Such a great recipe for a gathering.