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Looking for a light and delicious summer dessert that will wow your guests? Try my Lighter Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling. It’s impressive, easy to make, and tastes as gorgeous as it looks!
Summertime is Berry Time
These days, grocery stores carry berries all year round. But the flavor of those berries you buy in January, that are picked green so they won’t spoil while being shipped thousands of miles, just can’t compare to fresh-picked, sun-ripened, local berries.
That’s why summertime is berry time in our house. From late May through August, we eat delicious, locally grown berries every week. I serve them in pancakes, over oatmeal or yogurt, and on fruit plates with cottage cheese for lunch. I serve plenty of berry shortcakes for dessert too, and freeze as many as I can to use in winter.
But when company is coming, I love putting all those fresh, flavorful berries into my beautiful Easy Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling. It’s a truly impressive-looking dessert that delivers on taste and always earns raves from my guests.
A Light Dessert Made Even Lighter: Lighter Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling
There are plenty of terrific berry trifle recipes out there. What makes my Lighter Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling a little different is that I’ve made my version more waistline-friendly by lightening up the recipe.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t classify this ‘Lighter’ Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling as health food. But we all need a treat now and then, right? Especially during berry season. And if you can make a beautiful dessert a little lighter without sacrificing on taste, why wouldn’t you?
My secrets for a lighter but still decadently delicious berry trifle include a few substitutions from traditional trifle recipes.
Instead of pound cake, I use a store-bought angel food cake. In place of whipped cream or custard, I use whipped topping, such as Cool Whip and lemon-flavored Greek yogurt. Also, I toss my berries with powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. Because of the volume, powdered sugar has fewer calories than an equal amount of granulated sugar.
Taken together, these small variations to traditional trifle recipes definitely add up and make for a lighter dessert. Of course, the thing that truly makes my Lighter Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling so light and delicious is the main ingredient – lots of fresh, beautiful berries!
Let’s Talk Lemon Filling – And Layers
Lemon and berries are a can’t miss flavor combination. That wonderful marriage of sweet and tart really wakes up your taste buds!
My Lighter Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling uses lemon-flavored Greek yogurt plus lemon juice to give it a wonderfully light and lemony taste. Adding instant vanilla pudding and whipped topping creates a rich, thick custard-like filling.
The flavors in my Lighter Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling are so, so good. But what really knocks this dessert out of the park is the presentation. All those beautiful layers make this a truly impressive finish to a wonderful company dinner!
You can put the layers together just about any way you’d like. Just make sure that each layer is visibly distinct. I really do love serving this dessert in a footed trifle bowl, but if you don’t have a trifle bowl, any large glass bowl will work. Just make sure it’s clear so you can see the layers.
On a final note, I used strawberries and blueberries here but any fresh seasonal berry or soft summer fruit would work. Use your imagination.
And give my Lighter Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling a try this week. Your dinner guests will thank you!
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Easy Berry Trifle with Lemon Filling
- Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 lbs strawberries, washed, stemmed, and sliced
- 18 oz blueberries, washed
- ½ cup powdered sugar, divided
- 1 store bought angel food cake, cut into chunks
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3.4 oz box instant vanilla pudding (or same amount instant lemon pudding)
- 2 cups lemon flavored Greek yogurt
- 1 T lemon juice
- 8 oz whipped topping
Instructions
- Place the sliced strawberries in a medium sized bowl. Toss with ¼ cup powdered sugar. Set aside.
- Place the blueberries in a medium sized bowl. Toss with ¼ cup powdered sugar. Set aside.
- Use an electric beater or whisk to mix the milk and instant pudding together for about two minutes. Let it sit until set, about five minutes.
- Stir Greek yogurt and lemon juice into pudding mixture with a spatula to combine. Fold in whipped topping. Set approximately ¼ of the filling aside in a small dish, to top off the trifle after you make the layers.
- Place half the angel food cake chunks into the bottom of a trifle dish or glass bowl. Cover the cake with half of the large portion of filling. Layer the blueberries over the filling. Layer half of the strawberries over blueberries. Repeat the cake and filling layer. Top with the remaining strawberries and the reserved quarter cup of filling.
- Place trifle into refrigerator until ready to serve.
