Guys. You have to make this. Like, now.

It’s super easy, great for a big group and incredibly delicious.

 

You can get a trifle dish for less than $20, or just use a large bowl.

Now, you could obviously just make regular strawberry shortcakes, if you only need dessert for a few people. But I would submit that this is even better than strawberry shortcake, and it doesn’t even require turning on the oven.

I did make my own pudding and whipped cream — I would recommend doing both (the pudding is easy and tastes like melted vanilla ice cream) — but you can buy those, too. Up to you.

Then, all you need to do is layer everything in the trifle dish (or bowl) and arrange some strawberries on top. I clearly am not an expert strawberry arranger, but no one really cared once they dug into this thing.

Pretty, right? So, what are you waiting for?

Strawberry shortcake trifle (Serves a crowd)
3-5 pounds (2-3 quarts) strawberries
sugar
2 packages worth (or the recipe below) of vanilla pudding
5-6 cups whipped cream (recipe below)
2 loaf-sized (11 ounce) butter cakes or pound cakes
1 jar strawberry jam

At least an hour before you’d like to assemble the trifle (or the night before), remove the stems from all but about 10 of the strawberries and cut them into quarters. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of sugar on top (2 tablespoons is enough if they’re very ripe and sweet, but use 3 or 4 tablespoons if they are not very ripe) and stir gently. Cover and refrigerate. Make sure you keep the strawberries you haven’t cut up — don’t eat them!

Next, make the pudding, either using the recipe below or a box mix (unless you’re just buying pudding, which is also fine). Refrigerate.

At least an hour before you plan to serve the trifle, make the whipped cream. Then immediately cut the cake into small pieces. Get the strawberries and pudding out of the fridge.

Arrange a layer of cake pieces on the bottom of the trifle dish, so the cake is basically covering the bottom (this is not an exact science, so don’t worry if it’s not perfect). Spoon a layer of pudding on top (just don’t use more than half of the pudding). Stir the strawberries and sugar and spoon about half of the strawberries and the liquid in the bowl on top of the pudding.

Stir up the jam and spoon about half of it relatively evenly over the strawberries. Scoop some whipped cream on top and use the back of the spoon to spread it out evenly to cover the strawberry mixture.

Next, layer more cake pieces on top of the whipped cream, then layer more straweberries and jam, pudding and then whipped cream. Smooth out the whipped cream with the back of the spoon.

Get the 10 or so strawberries that you reserved, cut off the stems and slice the berries. Arrange the berries on top of the whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate for an hour (or longer), then serve.

Vanilla pudding (adapted from the New York Times)
5 cups half-and-half, whole milk, or a combination of heavy cream and milk
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cornstarch
2 1/2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

Pour 4 cups of half-and-half, milk or whatever you’re using into a large or medium saucepot. Add the sugar and salt, and put the pot on medium or medium-low heat. Stir and cook until the mixture begins to steam.

Meanwhile, stir the cornstarch and remaining 1 cup milk/whatever together in a bowl and blend until there are no lumps. Add that to the hot milk mixture and continue cooking on medium or medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture just starts to boil (this will take about 5 minutes, unless the heat isn’t turned up quite high enough).

Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and continue stirring until the pudding gets very thick. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Pour the pudding into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pushing it down directly on to the top of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate at least until cold, or overnight. (If it looks lumpy when you take it out of the fridge, you can whisk it)

Whipped cream
3-4 cups heavy cream (very cold)
2-3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Pour the heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or large mixing bowl if using a hand-held electric mixer. Add the powdered sugar. Beat the cream until it hold peaks. Just make sure you watch the cream while you’re whipping it — if you let it go too long, it will turn into butter.