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This Easy Lemon Strawberry Trifle is quick to put together with layers of homemade lemon filling, fresh strawberries, mascarpone whipped cream and angel food cake! Such a light dessert that’s perfect for potlucks and parties all summer long!
Looking for more trifle recipes? This my classic Triple Berry Trifle recipe!
Trifles are easily one of the greatest dessert inventions. When you need a quick dessert to put together, a trifle is definitely a go-to. You can also add so many great flavors with all the layers and it’s easy to serve – what isn’t to love?
Lemon Strawberry Trifle
Today we’re taking trifles to the next level and adding lemon flavor in with all our strawberries! Such a delicious flavor combination that just screams summer. And when you combine those flavors with mascarpone whipped cream (which I’m a little obsessed with) and angel food cake, you’ve got a light dessert thats delicious and easy to put together. Winner, winner.
The inspiration for this trifle actually came while making my No Bake Lemon Cheesecake. It took a little bit of testing before I got the filling to be as firm as I wanted it. One of my trials of the filling that didn’t end up firm enough got denied for the cheesecake filling, but ended up being the perfect consistency for a trifle. And since I hate wasting things, this trifle was born! So the lesson here is if you ever have a no bake cheesecake fail, make a trifle! 😉
How to Make a Lemon Strawberry Trifle
To get started with this trifle, you’ll make the lemon filling. We’ll start with the lemon juice and zest, which gets combined with some sweetened condensed milk. When combined, the acid in lemon juice basically “spoils” the milk and thickens it. That allows us to add plenty of great lemon flavor to the filling without having it be too thin.
Next up is the mascarpone whipped cream. Let the mascarpone sit on the counter for roughly 15-20 minutes before using it. You want it to soften a bit, but not get too warm. When mascarpone gets too warm, it thins out too much and doesn’t do a great job of thickening back up. So when it’s ready, add the mascarpone cheese to your mixer bowl and beat it just until it’s smooth. Over mixing mascarpone can also cause problems.
Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla to the mascarpone cheese and whip on high speed until it forms medium to stiff peaks. It won’t take long, so don’t walk away and leave it.
To layer everything together, start with a layer of angel food cake on the bottom, then add about half of the lemon filling. Add a layer of strawberries, then a layer of mascarpone whipped cream. You’ll repeat the layers one more time, but for the mascarpone whipped cream I piped it on top rather than just spreading in an even layer. You could really do it either way.
The final touch is a few strawberries and lemon slices for decorating and you’re all done!
Make Ahead Trifle
This trifle is perfect for making ahead! The filling and whipped cream are completely stable and will do well in the fridge for several days. With the fresh strawberries though, I’d suggest making this the night before serving for it to be best. And I always like to add the final fruit decorations shortly before serving, so that they don’t dry out.
I hope you love this trifle as much as we did! The flavors are amazing and it’ll be great for summer – or even for Easter later this weekend, if you need a last minute dessert idea!
More Great Trifle Recipes
- Triple Berry Trifle Recipe
- Strawberry Shortcake Trifle
- Peach Raspberry Sangria Trifle
- Red Velvet Berry Trifle Recipe
- Oreo Cheesecake Brownie Trifle
- Mini Strawberry Champagne Trifle
Easy Lemon Strawberry Trifle
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10-12 servings
- Category: Dessert
- Method: No Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Easy Lemon Strawberry Trifle is quick to put together with layers of homemade lemon filling, fresh strawberries, mascarpone whipped cream and angel food cake! Such a light dessert that’s perfect for spring parties and summer potlucks!
Ingredients
Lemon Filling
- 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 6 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (2–3 lemons)
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 16 oz (452g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (104g) sugar
- 2 tbsp (29g) sour cream
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
- 1/2 cup (58g) powdered sugar
- Yellow gel icing color, optional
Mascarpone Whipped Cream
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese*
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup (58g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Additional Ingredients
- 1 lb strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced**
- 15 oz angel food cake
Instructions
To Make the Filling
- In a medium sized measuring cup, combine the sweetened condensed milk with the lemon juice and lemon zest. Set aside to thicken.
- In a large mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until well combined and smooth.
- Add the sour cream and mix until well combined and smooth.
- Add the lemon juice mixture to the cream cheese mixture and mix until well combined and smooth. Set mixture aside.
- In another large mixer bowl, add the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar for the filling. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Carefully fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture in two parts until well combined.
- Add a little yellow gel icing color and gently fold to combine, if desired. Set aside.
To Make the Mascarpone Whipped Cream
- To make the whipped cream, add the mascarpone cheese to a mixer bowl and beat just until it starts to smooth out. Don’t over beat it, or it’ll thin out too much.
- Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract, and whip on high speed until medium to stiff peaks form. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to be sure the mascarpone cheese was all incorporated. Set aside
To Assemble the Trifle
- To layer the trifle, wash, hull and slice the strawberries, reserving a few berries for decoration if desired. Cut or rip angel food cake into bite-sized chunks.
- Add a layer of angel food cake chunks to the bottom of the trifle bowl and cover with about half of the lemon filling.
- Next, add about half of the strawberries in an even layer, then about half of the mascarpone whipped cream.
- Repeat the layers starting with another layer of angel food cake (you might not need the entire cake) and the other half of the lemon filling.
- Top the trifle with the remainder of the sliced strawberries and cover well with plastic wrap.
- Place in the refrigerator to chill at least 5-6 hours or overnight.
- Just before serving, fill a piping bag with the remaining mascarpone whipped cream and pipe swirls on top. I used Ateco tip #. Then decorate the top with a few sliced strawberries and lemon slice halves.
- Best if eaten within 3-4 days.
Notes
* Set out the mascarpone cheese about 15-20 minutes before you are ready to use it. You want to take the chill off, but not get it too warm. When mascarpone cheese gets too warm and soft, it doesn’t firm back up well.
** I like to reserve a few strawberries to use on top of the trifle. If you want to decorate it similar to how I did, I’d suggest setting aside 4-5 strawberries to cut in half later. If your package of berries is full of large berries and that removes half of your package, you might want to purchase an extra package of berries to make sure you have enough to decorate with.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 592
- Sugar: 44.8 g
- Sodium: 489.4 mg
- Fat: 33.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 65.3 g
- Protein: 10.5 g
- Cholesterol: 103.3 mg
When refrigerating, do you cover it?
If it’s just going to be in the fridge for a bit, you don’t have to. If you want to, you can use toothpicks to prop plastic wrap or foil up so it doesn’t mess up the top of it.
Can I make the cheese mixture & keep it in refrigerator, to assemble the next day? I Love this recipe & want it for Thanksgiving
So the lemon cheesecake filling is like a no-bake cheesecake filling, which means it’ll firm up when refrigerated. To make it and assemble it the next day, you’d have to let it soften and re-stir it up, which would deflate the whipped cream in it and isn’t ideal. You could make the mixture up until the whipped cream is folded in, then let that soften the next day and add the whipped cream. You could also make the full trifle the night before and it should be fine.
Should it be covered, when putting into fridge? I want to create it day before serving.
Sorry, I’m just seeing this second comment after responding to the first. You could also make the trifle up to the decorations, cover it for the night, then decorate it the day you serve it so that you don’t have to cover those.
Absolutely amazing trifle !!!! Love the lemon 🍋 flavor in it. I didn’t use any food coloring or mascarpone layer but was still SO good !! Thank you Lindsay!
So glad you enjoyed it!
What is marscopone cheese
It’s a kind of soft cheese that can usually be found with the specialty cheeses. I typically use this mascarpone cheese.
I was barely able to taste the lemon flavor so made a half recipe of your lemon curd from the Lemon Meringue Cupcake recipe & the trifle was a big hit.
Perfect. Loved it.
First one I had ever made. Made my own lemon curd. Easy to assemble. Will be making this again.
A big hit.
what a gorgeous and fun desert, a trifle no less, love it.
thank you for this recipe