Berry Trifle

I love berries, and I love angel food cake, and I love all things British, so obviously I love trifle. The colors made it a perfect choice for our Fourth of July festivities,  but this dessert lends itself to any event at any time, really. And it offers endless room for variation, which I love. Prefer raspberries to strawberries? Go right ahead. Want to make a few individual servings in Mason jars because you can't be bothered to pull out your trifle dish? Knock yourself out. The sky's the limit!

Blueberries and strawberries and cake, oh my!

Our trifle used strawberries, blueberries, premade angel food cake, and premade lemon loaf cake, both purchased at Walmart since there wasn't going to be enough time to make the cakes from scratch, but that's always an option if you want to go to the extra mile, of course. The lemon loaf cake tasted delicious and added a nice dimension to the flavor palate, but red/white/blue fanatics or trifle purists might want to stick with regular loaf cake to avoid any yellow.

The cream layer is, like everything else in a trifle, customizable to your taste. I like beating one brick (8 oz.) of softened cream cheese with a half cup of sugar and a dash of vanilla, then gradually beating in two cups of heavy whipping cream. This makes a soft, spreadable cream with just enough tang from the cream cheese to make us happy. If you want a firmer or more cream cheese-y spread, use two bricks and a cup of whipping cream. If cream cheese isn't your thing at all, whip one to two cups of heavy whipping cream until its at a soft consistency and add a tub of softened Cool-Whip for extra volume.

Once you've got your chosen cream, berries, and cake (cut into cubes if you're feeling geometric or just torn into shreds if you're feeling rugged), it's time to layer! Half the cake, half the cream, and half the berries, and then the next half of cake, half of cream, and half of berries. As you can see, I went for the natural (aka "just thrown about") look, but you can also arrange the berries in fancy patterns. Cover with cling wrap and let chill in the fridge for at least an hour, and then dig in!