By: Jill Mills Updated: Jul 6, 2024

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This Strawberry Trifle is about to become your new favorite, easy-peasy summer dessert. It’s made up of layers of light, airy angel food cake, fluffy whipped cream, and juicy macerated strawberries. Gosh. Does it get any better?

This easy strawberry trifle recipe is absolute heaven for all of you strawberry lovers out there. It’s made with layers of fluffy angel food cake, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries (3 pints in total!), all elegantly arranged in a trifle dish.

My favorite part of this recipe? The way the strawberries are prepared. They’re tossed with sugar and left to sit for a bit, which enhances their sweetness and creates a ruby-red syrup. SO good!

Why You’ll Love This Strawberry Trifle Recipe

Light and refreshing. Between the fluffy whipped cream, the airy angel food cake, and the fresh, sweet strawberries, this trifle is so light and refreshing. It’s the perfect treat for a warm summer day.
Super easy. This dessert is insanely easy to put together (especially if you use store-bought angel food cake and whipped cream). You’ll only need a handful of simple, easy-to-find ingredients and a few minutes of careful assembling.
Customizable. This is a great basic trifle recipe that’s super easy to customize to your taste buds. Use different fruits. Try a different cake. Use a flavored whipped cream. The world is your oyster! Check out the section below titled “Tips & Variation Ideas” for inspiration.

Strawberry trifle served on a a white plate stacked on top of another white plate.

Ingredient Notes

Buckle up and head on over to the grocery store! Here’s what you’ll need to make this strawberry trifle recipe. Be sure to scroll to the recipe card below for precise measurements.

Strawberries – Fresh is best here, folks. Fresh strawberries not only have a better flavor than their frozen counterparts, but they are also less likely to bleed into the angel food cake. Look for smaller, bright red strawberries. Trust me. They’re sweeter.
Lemon juice – I always prefer fresh lemon juice. The flavor is brighter and better. “Why lemon?” You ask. Because it helps keep the strawberries fresher for longer and adds a nice tang to the dessert.
Granulated sugar
Angel Food Cake – Grab one from the store, or make your own Angel Food Cake!
Whipped Cream – I highly suggest you try my Homemade Whipped Cream, but you can use store-bought whipped cream in a pinch.

How to Make a Strawberry Trifle

Here’s a general overview of how to make this easy strawberry trifle. Have a look at the recipe card below for more detailed instructions.

Squeezing lemon juice over a bowl of halved strawberries.

Prep the strawberries. Remove the 10 best-looking strawberries and set them aside. Stem and halve the remaining strawberries. Set half of those aside.
Macerate. Toss the remaining halved strawberries with the lemon juice and sugar. Cover and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes (this is called macerating).
Cube. Cut the angel food cake into even-sized cubes.

Arranging a layer of cubed angel food cake in the bottom of a trifle dish.

Spreading whipped cream over a layer of cubed angel food cake in a trifle dish.

Create your first layer. Arrange half of the cubed angel food cake on the bottom of the trifle dish and spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the top.

Arranging a border of halved strawberries around a layer of whipped cream in a trifle dish.

Layering macerated strawberries over whipped cream in a trifle dish.

Add strawberries. Line the edges of the trifle dish with some of the unmacerated halved strawberries. Then, arrange half of the macerated strawberries and their juices in the middle.

Layering cubes of angel food cake over a layer of whipped cream in a trifle dish.

Layering whipped cream over cubed angel food cake in a trifle dish.

Continue layering. Top the strawberries with a thin layer of whipped cream. Spread the rest of the angel food cake over the top, followed by another thin layer of whipped cream.
More strawberries. Line the edges of the trifle dish with some of the halved strawberries (not macerated) and arrange half of the macerated strawberries and their juices in the middle.
Finish it off. Top with the remaining whipped cream and arrange the reserved 10 best-looking strawberries on top.

Overhead image of strawberry trifle in a trifle dish topped with whole strawberries.

Tips & Variation Ideas

It’s pretty tough to mess up a trifle but, just in case, here are some pro tips to get you going in the right direction. I threw in a few fun variations too!

Use fresh strawberries. While you can use frozen strawberries in this recipe, the flavor just isn’t quite the same AND they will bleed their juices into the angel food cake and whipped cream much more easily.
Layer lightly. When layering the macerated strawberries over the whipped cream, do so gently. You don’t want to knock the volume out of the whipped cream!
Serve ASAP. While you can make this trifle up to 2 days in advance, I suggest serving it as soon as possible. The angel food cake gets soggy pretty quickly and the whipped cream falls flatter and flatter the longer it sits.
Mix up your fruit. Strawberries are a classic summery choice but you could just as easily use raspberries, blueberries, or some combination. Heck, you could ditch the berry idea entirely and opt for cubed pineapple or sliced peaches or apricots!
Choose a different cake. I love the light, airy angel food cake for this trifle. That being said, my Lemon Pound Cake (sans icing) or this Chocolate Bundt Cake (again, sans icing) would be pretty awesome as well.
Flavored whipped cream. If you’re making your own whipped cream, feel free to swap some of the powdered sugar out for a little cocoa powder or add powdered freeze-dried strawberries (just throw them in the blender). Voila! Chocolate (or strawberry) whipped cream!

Overhead image of a serving of strawberry trifle on a plate.

Can I Make A Trifle in Advance?

You can make this trifle up to 2 days in advance, but I recommend serving it as soon as possible. The angel food cake will get increasingly soggy as it sits, and the whipped cream will lose its volume.

More Easy Strawberry Desserts

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