Strawberry Kiwi Trifle

Enjoy the beauty of a colorful layered dessert that tastes as good as it looks. The different textures of cake, creamy vanilla pudding, and crunchy Nilla wafers add to the delight. To further send our taste buds over the edge, throw in some fresh strawberries, kiwi, and bananas. As pretty as it is, this Strawberry Kiwi Trifle is usually the first dish empty on the dessert table.

Layering a Strawberry Kiwi Trifle

Maybe there’s an official trifle layering process somewhere out there, but when I put together a trifle I’m pretty relaxed about it. I don’t think there are any rules, so I go with what makes sense to me.

For instance, using the above pictured trifle dish I plan on having 2 halves (a bottom and top). Each of the 2 halves will have multiple layers. If you look closely, you’ll see there are 2 layers of Cool Whip, 2 layers of pudding, 2 layers of strawberry cupcake cores, etc. So the bottom half starts with Nilla wafers on the bottom, then the cake layer (strawberry and pound) followed by the Cool Whip and pudding, all topped with the fresh fruit.

I changed the top half slightly so that the upper most top layer was Cool Whip. Then I added some chopped Nilla wafers on top of that for decoration. It would have been just as pretty to have ended with the fruit on top.

Choosing the next layer

One thing you may want to think about before you make a trifle is whether or not you want to keep something like the Nilla wafers crunchy or not.

They’re more likely to stay crunchy if you separate them from the wet items, like the Cool Whip and pudding.

There’s nothing wrong with a soft Nilla wafer, either, just a personal preference.

What are strawberry cupcake cores?

I’m so glad you asked. As referenced in some of my other posts about pudding-filled cupcakes, I have to first core the center of the cupcake.

This makes room for the pudding filling. I save the cores in the freezer for later use, like when I want to make a trifle, and here we are.

These particular cupcake cores came from my Easy Strawberry Cupcakes recipe. Yummy!

The cores from 1 batch of cupcakes (24) isn’t enough for this trifle recipe, so pound cake was added to fill in the difference.

No cupcake cores?

If you don’t have any cupcake cores in your freezer, not to worry. Just make a strawberry cake and dice it up into cubes, or whatever shapes make you happy.

You won’t need the whole cake for this Strawberry Kiwi Trifle, so you’ll either have snacking food while you’re making your trifle, or you can freeze it for later.

Strawberry Kiwi Trifles are flexible.

Trifles are very forgiving in the sense that if you don’t have exactly enough Nilla wafers, nobody is going to notice.

If you have too much pudding, no big deal, pour the extra into a small glass for a snack later.

You also don’t have to make this in 2 halves, but I’ve found that it’s easier to serve this way. Other wise you have to dig all the way to the bottom to make sure each serving has a bit of everything.

Oh, and at my house, I find it’s also a great way of using up fresh fruit while it’s still fresh. LOL!!!

There’s something in this Strawberry Kiwi Trifle for everyone, and that’s hard to beat. The different colors are beautiful and the strawberries, kiwi, and bananas are generally loved by all (or most).

In addition, one serving has only 160 calories, which is such a bonus! It really is the first dessert to go on the dessert table.

For other recipe ideas, check out my Easy BBQ Chicken Sliders and/or my Tilapia and Asparagus Foil Packets recipes. Have a beautiful day!

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