Easy Strawberry and Lemon Trifle, quick simple dessert recipe with layers of fresh strawberries, lemon whipped cream, vanilla pudding, and lady’s fingers. Great for parties and holidays

Spring has started and what better way to welcome in the season with recipes using fresh strawberries!

We thought we'd make a simple, fuss free strawberry and lemon trifle, it takes very little effort and absolutely no baking or cooking is needed.

All you need are a few fresh ingredients and some pantry ingredients and of course a trifle bowl or similar for serving.

The combination of lemon and strawberries is really delicious.

You get the sweet juicy strawberries bursting in your mouth together with a slight sharpness of lemon.

Now of course, if you like really sharp lemon in desserts, add some extra lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon on the lady's fingers, that will help you pucker up with sharpness!

To keep this trifle recipe simple, we've used instant custard/vanilla pudding mix. If you want to make from scratch, you can use our homemade custard recipe or even use our homemade strawberry pudding recipe. Time permitting of course.

For the lemon flavor, we've used a combination of delicious lemon curd, which you can buy in the store (although you can make your own lemon curd if you have time!) and lemon zest.

The amounts you see in the ingredients will give you a nice balance of sharp up against the sweetness of the strawberries.

For the base, we've used lady's fingers.

These are a great little Italian type cookie which, when saturated, turn into sponge like texture, giving you the cake - like structure you get in a cake trifle.

They're easy to store in your pantry too, so buy a bag and keep them handy for when you want to make fuss free trifles!

The final topping is freshly whipped cream which we've infused with lemon curd and lemon zest. It's really refreshing and tastes absolutely delicious!

This trifle can be served in a large trifle bowl, say for a party or family gathering. Perhaps you're making a dessert for July 4th, or going to a potluck, or Summer party.

If you want to keep good portion control, perhaps a children's birthday party, you can make this trifle in small cups so it's easier to work out how many you are making it for.

You can also make this for Thanksgiving or Christmas, although strawberries may not be at their sweetest during the Winter months, if that's the case, you can slice the strawberries and sprinkle some powdered sugar or honey over them for an hour before you build the trifle.

We've made this trifle using 2 layers. You can make as many layers as your trifle bowl will allow, there isn't really an exact number of layers you must have, so feel free to do as many layers as you wish!

Instructions

Divide the sliced strawberries into 3 equal amounts. (hold some back for decorating on the top)

Break up 9 of the lady’s fingers and line the bottom of your trifle bowl

Put the lemon curd in a small bowl and microwave for 1 minute until loosened

Pour half of the lemon curd over the lady’s fingers

and spread so they are all coated 

Pour ⅓ of the custard / vanilla pudding over and spread evenly

Place ⅓ of the sliced strawberries over the custard

then repeat the layers so you have an order similar to below, although it doesn't really matter too much if you make up different layers, or more or less.

Make the whipped cream

Add the cream to a mixing bowl together with the 2 tablespoons lemon curd, the lemon zest and powdered sugar. Whip until stiff.

Add the whipped cream over the top and spread evenly

Arrange the remaining strawberries on the top.

Refrigerate for at least 3 - 4 hours before serving. 

If you enjoy easy strawberry desserts, you must try this Strawberry Yum Yum recipe. It's so delicious!

If you love the flavor combination of strawberries and lemon, check out our easy and quick strawberry and lemon loaf cake recipe!

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other ingredients? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

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