Lemon Strawberry Trifle

Mother's Day snuck up on me this year.  I had nothing planned, nothing going on.  That is until my BFF Barb sent me a text asking, "Is there anything organized for the GMOs on Sunday?" (GMO is text abbreviation for Grandmother in my family lol) It hit me that Mother's Day was rapidly approaching.  So I quick called my Mom and my Aunt Sissie and said, "Please plan on coming over for dessert and coffee Sunday afternoon." Now gifts I had taken care of a long time ago.  I may or may not have told you that we have a new baby in the family!  My Devilish Nephew is now a Dad so we now have Baby Devilish Dish to keep up busy and shower our love on. Should I call him Baby Devilish Dish?  Little Devil is already taken even though she's now grown up.  Maybe he can be the Littlest Devil.  He's too sweet for that.  Anyhoo, I already had photo albums filled with baby pictures for the Littlest Devil's Great Grandmother and Great Aunt.  Really all I needed was a good house cleaning and a quick dessert recipe.  I asked Mr. Devilish Dish if he had any recipe ideas and his reply was, "Something Spring-y."  I always think Strawberry Shortcake for Spring. Or some variation of strawberries and pound cake but I wanted something a little different.  I thought about making a Bundt cake in one of my fancy pans but that last time I made a cake it failed to release from the pan.  Twice.  At first I thought to myself, "If the cake fails just cube it up and call it a trifle."  Then I thought to myself, "Just skip the cake attempt and make a trifle."  I just love trifles and layered desserts because they look so pretty and colorful with the distinct layers in the dish.  And believe it or not I don't even own a trifle dish.  I used to.  I think I even registered for it when I got married years and years ago.  I'm sure it was broken in one of a million moves.  I do however own a large collection of beautiful glass bowls.  Some wedding gifts, some family heirlooms.  Some vintage purchases.  I decided to skip the cake baking and use a store bought Angel Food Cake  After all the star of the show would be whatever Spring flavors I decided to use.  I wanted something just a little fancier than cake, strawberries and whipped cream layered together and not only are the flavors of lemon and strawberry delicious together, the colors look so pretty layered in the dish.  I opted to make this a semi-homemade dessert.  I doctored up some store bought ingredients and it turned out great.  After all I am a Mom too and I wanted to enjoy the day not cooking and cleaning for hours. This dessert simple to make, and it was a huge hit.  It made such a striking presentation layered in the dish and the tart lemon and sweet strawberry were the perfect compliment to the pound cake.  It definitely checked the box for "Spring-y Dessert." 

I just love how this dessert turned out.
Bright, beautiful layers of sweet-tart
flavors.

Cut your cake into bite sized cubes.
I found a serrated bread knife works best for cutting
the tender cake.

Set the cake cubes aside.  I kept the container
just to show you it's okay to use a
store bought cake.

Combine the instant pudding and milk.
Refrigerate this mixture for a few minutes.

While the pudding is partially setting,
Whip the heavy whipping cream
with 1 tablespoon of sugar. You don't
need it to be very sweet since you're
adding it to the other mixtures.

Fold half of the whipped cream into the
partially set pudding.  This will lighten the
mixture up quite a bit and be similar in
texture to a creme anglaise or homemade
pastry cream.

Take the remaining half of the whipped cream and
fold in the lemon curd.  This will give you the best
tasting, lovely pale yellow whipped cream ever.

This tastes amazing!

Assembly is the fun part:
Start by layering half of your cake cubes
in a glass dish.

Add half of the pudding mixture.

Next add half the strawberries.
In addition to covering the pudding with
sliced strawberries, I pressed a few slices
up against the sides of the bowl for a
pretty presentation.

On top of the berry layer, spread half of the
lemon curd mixture.  Then repeat the layers
with the other half of the ingredients.

Garnish the top with a few whole
bright berries.

At this point you can serve immediately or
refrigerate up to 3 or 4 hours before
serving.

Look how gorgeous this turned out!
Pretty fancy for a semi-homemade treat.

Enjoy at your next get-together.

LEMON STRAWBERRY TRIFLE

1 Angel Food Cake (cut into bite-sized cubes) You can make your own or use store-bought
2 (3 ounce) instant lemon pudding mixes
4 cups whole milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon granulated or caster sugar
2/3 cup lemon curd (I used store-bought but you can make your own if you'd like)
2 pounds fresh strawberries sliced (Reserve a few whole for garnish)

Begin by cutting your cake into cubes and set aside.  In a large bowl combine the two instant pudding mixes with the whole milk.  Refrigerate 5-10 minutes so it will start to set.  Meanwhile with a mixer whip the heavy whipping cream with the tablespoon of sugar to lightly sweeten it.  You want the resulting homemade whipped cream to be thick.  (Watch carefully so you don't wind up with butter.  You could certainly use purchased whipped topping if you want but I'm not a fan of the greasy texture so I always make my own whipped cream.  It just takes a few minutes with a mixer and I think it tastes so much better.) Once the cream is whipped, fold half of it into the bowl of pudding that is partially set.  The result will be a smooth, thick sauce similar in texture to a creme anglaise.  Fold the lemon curd into the remaining half of the whipped cream to create a smooth, pale yellow delicious mixture.  Slice your strawberries and you're ready to assemble.  In a clear glass bowl or trifle dish (so you can see the lovely layers) place half of the cake cubes.  Top with half of the pudding mixture.  Top with half of the sliced strawberries.  I placed a few against the side of the bowl to create a pretty presentation.  Top the strawberries with the lemon curd-whipped cream mixture.  Repeat the layers with the remaining cake cubes, pudding, strawberries and lemon whipped cream.  Garnish the top with a few whole pretty strawberries.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  NOTE: I made this about an hour or so in advance.  I did try the leftovers the next day and although it tasted great, the cake cubes were pretty soft at this point, so I would not make this too far in advance. I think 3-4 hours maximum for the best texture results.