Creamy Dreamy Fruit Trifle

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If you like cold fruity desserts and the taste of lemon meringue pie paired with a flavorful layer of fluffy cake, this creamy dreamy fruit trifle recipe is for you.

creamy dreamy fruit trifle

Here in the South, we love our trifle recipes. They really are the perfect summer treat and my creamy dreamy fruit trifle is no exception. It’s light, fluffy, sweet, and flavorful all at once. 

You only need five ingredients to make my easy fruit trifle: a baked yellow cake (you can use a cake mix or make it from scratch), plus lemon juice, sweetened condensed milk, whipped topping, and the seasonal mixed fruits of your choice. Today, I’m using banana slices, strawberry slices, and chopped grapes.

To make the fruit trifle, all you need to do is bake the cake, mix together the condensed milk, lemon juice, and whipped cream, chopped up your fruit, and then add them in layers to your trifle bowl. We love an uncomplicated summer dessert! Now, trifles typically have a custard pudding or jello layer. But today our pudding layer is made with whipped topping and condensed milk. It has a similar consistency but a lighter flavor for summer.

This homemade trifle is truly a taste and texture sensation. In one bite you get fluffy cake, refreshing whipped topping, fresh fruit, and that tangy lemon flavor. If you like my lemon meringue pie recipe, you definitely need to make this next!

What You’l Need to Make Creamy Dreamy Fruit Trifle:

ingredients for creamy dreamy fruit trifle

Ingredients

  • A 9×13 yellow cake, baked and cooled
  • Sweetened condensed milk
  • Cool Whip
  • Bottled or fresh lemon juice
  • Fruit of your choice (I am using strawberries, bananas, blackberries, and blueberries)

How to Make Creamy Dreamy Fruit Trifle:

make the topping

To begin with we need to make our topping.

In a large bowl, add sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and whipped topping. Mix that together really well with a wire whisk until well blended. This will take a couple of minutes.

crumbled cake

Crumble half of your cake into the bottom of a trifle bowl or punch bowl.

top cake with the mixture

Top that with 1/2 of your topping mixture that tastes like heavenly lemony clouds.

add in sliced fruit and layer

Now add in some sliced fruit. Now let’s repeat the layers! Top the fruit with more cake, half of it if it will fit. Top that with the topping, then top with more fruit!!

creamy dreamy fruit trifle

Feel free to make the top super decorative – it’s more fun that way! Whether you go for a patterned design or chop the fruit up and pile it on top, it will be beautiful!

serve creamy dreamy fruit trifle

Cover this and refrigerate for an hour or so before serving or eat right away if you want. It gets better when it gets cold though.

enjoy

DELICIOUS!

Storage

Store leftovers either in the trifle bowl (covered in plastic wrap) or an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Recipe Notes

  • For the cake, you can just use a cake mix or you can use my recipe to make a yellow cake from scratch that is found in my book, Come Home To Supper (click here to order).
  • You can also substitute the yellow cake for golden cake, white cake, angel food cake, homemade vanilla cake, or homemade pound cake.
  • If using bananas, dip each banana slice in orange juice or a little lemon juice to prevent discoloration. 
  • You can use as much fruit as you like and any fruit that you like, such as oranges, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, mandarin oranges, grapes, banana, and kiwi fruit.
     

Recipe FAQs

Can I use canned fruit in my fruit trifle?

Yes, you can use either canned fruit or fresh fruit in your fruit trifle. You just want to make sure it’s drained well before adding to the trifle, so it doesn’t make the cake layer extra soggy. 

Can I make my trifle in advance?

Yes, I recommend making your trifle ahead of time and letting those layers marry together in the fridge. I recommend making it from 4 to 24 hours in advance.

You may also like these tempting dessert recipes:

Strawberry Punch Bowl Cake (a.k.a Strawberry Trifle)

Patriotic Punch Bowl Cake

How To Make Homemade Banana Pudding From Scratch

Bananas in Red Stuff (a.k.a Strawberry Glaze)

Vanilla Wafer Pudding Recipe With Pineapple

creamy dreamy fruit trifle

Creamy Dreamy Fruit Trifle

If you like cold fruity desserts, the taste of lemon meringue pie, and fluffy yellow cake, this creamy dreamy fruit trifle recipe is for you!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: fruit, trifle
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 box yellow cake mix prepared according to package directions in a 9x13 pan, baked, and cooled
  • 16 ounces cool whip light, fat-free, or regular
  • 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • assorted seasonal fruit

Instructions

  • In a large mixing bowl, combine Cool Whip, sweetened condensed milk, and lemon juice. Stir with wire whisk until well blended.
    16 ounces cool whip, 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • In a punch bowl or trifle bowl, break up half of the cake. Top with 1/2 of the lemon mixture. Top with half of the fruit, the remaining cake, and the remaining pudding mixture. Decorate the top heavily with more fruit.
    1 box yellow cake mix, assorted seasonal fruit
  • Cover and refrigerate for a few hours before serving, if possible. Can serve immediately but it is even better cold.
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

 

 “It’s easier to magnify the faults of another than to work and eliminate flaws within yourself.”

~Rick Wolfe

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44 Comments

  1. Hi Christy,
    I am wondering if I make this a day ahead, will it get too mushy? Thanks for all of your great recipes!! 🙂

  2. I have not found the Carbquik baking mix in local Atlanta stores. It looks as though it must be ordered on line. I really want to try this mix.

  3. Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes. I have to tell you that whenever my mother in law comes to visit, I generally only cook from your web site/cookbooks and she thinks I’m a genius…I always give credit to you but thank you for making my cooking smart!

  4. Hi Christy, I made the Creamy Dreamy Trifle dessert for Memorial Day and it was great! Everyone loved it and I had a request for the recipe. I had an extra box of cake mix and extra fruit left over so I made
    another one today. I
    used round cake pans this time and
    layered the dish with the whole cake instead of breaking it up, still turned out great! Thanks again for the recipe.

  5. I made this yesterday. Delicious! Just fresh strawberries for fruit. Light taste with the lemon meringue pie filling being tart. Perfect dessert for a hot day.

  6. Thanks for your simple, family focused posts. I am a teacher in Baldwin County and a mom of 3- one leaving pre-k, one leaving Kindergarten, and one leaving 8th grade. It does feel like the last few weeks of school we run full throttle towards a brick wall. A huge sense of calm came at 3:00 on Friday. Enjoy your summer and I’m excited to make this during ours!

    1. I have never liked Cool Whip so can I use heavy whipping cream in this recipe? Also will it need to be stabilized?

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