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Grand Raspberry Trifle

English trifle can be made in one large dish or several small dishes. Ours combines fruit, jam, juice-drenched pound cake, and whipped cream. To make individual raspberry trifles, follow steps 1 through 3. In each of 10 glass serving dishes or wineglasses (1 1/2-cup capacity), follow procedure in step 4, making only two layers in each glass.
Everyday Food, December 2003
  • Prep Time 20 minutes
  • Total Time 20 minutes
  • Yield Serves 10
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cup seedless raspberry jam
  • 4 cups raspberries
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 pounds favorite pound cake

Directions

  1. In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water, and lemon juice to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool.

  2. In a small bowl, combine jam with 3 cups raspberries, mashing slightly. In a large bowl, whip cream and 2 tablespoons sugar to stiff peaks.

  3. Slice pound cake 3/4 inch thick; brush both sides of slices with lemon syrup.

  4. Fit 1/3 of slices snugly in the bottom of a 4-quart trifle dish or other glass bowl, trimming edges if necessary. Gently spread top of layer with 1/3 of raspberry mixture, and then 1/3 of whipped cream. Repeat to make two more layers; garnish with remaining cup raspberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 24 hours.

Recipe Reviews

Reviews (18)

  • Kisa Yao
    20 Feb, 2013

    Beautiful, easy, and delicious. It was a huge hit at Christmas and I plan on making it a yearly tradition!

  • BJOHN80312
    26 Dec, 2012

    Made this for Christmas dessert. It's perfect after a heavy meal! So easy and quick to assemble. And beautiful too!!

  • anniemacgregor
    28 Jul, 2012

    I have made this recipe a few times now and alwasy get rave reviews for it. I made it for Christmas this past year, using angel food cake instead, and it was amazing. Very light and delicious. I also use my own homemade raspberry jam and fresh lemon juice. Mm mm good!!

  • toni48
    4 Jan, 2012

    This was wonderful! So easy to make. I'm thinking of making a Meyer Lemon Pound Cake to use in this recipe next time. Just the way the recipe is presented here, it's still a 10!

  • bruthm
    9 Jan, 2011

    Quite delicious and very adaptable to what you have on hand. I made it using frozen raspberries, homemade triple berry jam, chocolate pound cake (Rose Levy Beranbaum Cake Bible recipe), and brushed the cake with a simple syrup mixed with creme de cassis.

  • sjmomii
    21 Dec, 2010

    I doubled this recipe and used a very large, almost straight-sided glass bowl (without a pedestal). It was incredibly easy to put together, looked beautiful, and it was a big hit at a family gathering. I used Sara Lee pound cake -- very dense so the cake didn't fall apart after soaking up all the raspberry juice.

  • scorwin
    20 Dec, 2010

    How do you serve a trifle without making a mess of it??

  • stephmonster87
    14 Dec, 2010

    This looks fabulous! I'm going to try and make it this Christmas, in addition to these truffles, and homemade eggnog if I have time

    http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/recipes/desserts-a-goodies-/unbe...

  • AnnieSimon
    14 Dec, 2010

    Great desert! I made this for a family gathering and everyone loved it. It's very light and flavourful.

  • Ceege
    27 Nov, 2010

    Although I haven't tried this trifle yet, I plan on doing so for Christmas. I do have the trifle bowl as I often make pumpkin trifle (using gingerbread cake mix) and it is always well received by my guests. I will review this berry recipe after Christmas and let you know how my family enjoyed it.

  • ChocolateDreamer
    22 Dec, 2009

    What a beautiful dessert!! I have had this with brownies layered in it too. My favorite are the brownies from Dove Chocolate Discoveries.

  • ovestobake
    31 Jan, 2009

    That makes such a pretty presentation

    Claire, that's a trifle dish, but you could also, make it in a large clear glass bowl, and although, it wouldnt' be quite as pretty, it would still be very nice. Try these. Even Amazon is listed as having them. http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient

  • kmassenburg
    25 Dec, 2008

    I have made this several times and it is always a huge hit! very easy and delicious!

  • fressias2000
    17 Dec, 2008

    clair_b1003 you could try ASDA.

  • claire_b1003
    28 Nov, 2008

    I neeeeed that dish! Anyone know where I can get one in the UK (or online that ships to sunny Yorkshire)??

  • XENAPONY
    21 Jul, 2008

    Excellent trifle and so EASY to prepare. I halved the recipe but there was still plenty to serve to a bunch (6) of my friends after dinner. I got loads of compliments about how light and fresh it tasted, I loved the tartness of the raspberries and the lemon syrup.

  • JenniferScillia
    17 Jan, 2008

    WOW! What a delicious and simple recipe! I was in a pinch and used a cake mix that made a butter cake - it was a fabulous substitute. This took all of 10 minutes to put together and my four year old loved helping with the layering. It was a huge hit!

  • rwctlc1107
    20 Dec, 2007

    I have made this dessert every Christmas since Every Day Food first published it. It is easy to make, beautiful to present and delicious to eat!