Vegan trifle cups are perfect for the USA's Independence Day, but you really don’t need to be celebrating anything to enjoy one! It’s made with the best vegan vanilla cake ever, but you can also use a box mix or even Graham crackers in a pinch.
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🇬🇧 What is Trifle?
Trifle is a dessert that originated in England. It is made with layers of fruit, sponge cake, whipped cream, custard, and sometimes jelly.
The cake is usually soaked in brandy or sherry, giving trifle its alternative name: tipsy cakes.
The word trifle comes from the old French term 'trufe' which means of little consequence. It sounds like whoever coined the dessert's name knew how easy it was to make!
This version is prepared in small cups, making it even easier to serve to a crowd—or to make for 1-2 people at a time.
🍓 Vegan Trifle Ingredients
Trifle is very open to interpretation... you can use pretty much any type of cake, cream, and fruit. Boozy or not.
Here's what I like to use for an easy and celebratory version:
Vanilla Cake
If you haven't met our vanilla cake yet, now is the time! Its tender crumb elevates this trifle to the next level.
We'll soak it in a bit of brandy for an extra kick, but you can skip that step entirely.
In a hurry? Use a box-mix cake or crushed Graham crackers!
Coconut Whipped Cream
If possible, pick a brand of coconut cream that uses guar gum. It will make a much smoother whipper cream.
If coconut cream isn't available, coconut milk (full-fat) will also work, but you may need to use more of it.
Make sure to refrigerate the can overnight for it to be firm enough to whip the next day.
I like to place the can in the fridge upside down—this way almost all the cream will have collected at the top.
See? All the water is at the bottom of the can now. You can easily scoop out the cream by itself.
In addition to the coconut cream, we'll also use:
- Sweetener of choice — I used powdered sugar (organic to ensure vegan-friendliness). You can also use monk fruit or stevia extract if needed.
- Cream of tartar — A pinch of potassium bitartrate stabilizes the coconut whipped cream so that it doesn't collapse easily. Feel free to omit this ingredient, it won't change the flavor at all.
Berries
I've used strawberries and blueberries to go with the "red, white, and blue" theme for the USA's Independence Day—but you can use any fruit you like!
Optional: Custard
In this easier version of trifle, we don't have to use a custard layer.
But if custard happens to be an indispensable part of trifle for you—go ahead and make a quarter of this recipe, omitting the mastic.
See the recipe card for exact ingredient quantities.
🍰 How to Make Vegan Trifle Cups
Prepare each layer first:
Vanilla Cake
Make 4 cups of batter of the vegan vanilla cake recipe and bake in a cupcake tin or 9-inch square pan.
Cupcake or round cake tins will result in more doming than a square pan.
Cut into ½-inch thick cubes.
Optional: Place all pieces into a large bowl and pour over the liquor. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours so that the cake soaks up the liquid.
Coconut Whipped Cream
Once you have chilled and scooped out the coconut cream, place it into a medium-sized bowl.
Add the powdered sugar (or another sweetener of choice) and the optional cream of tartar, and whip with an electric mixer/whisker.
It will likely look grainy at first, but just keep whisking! After about 2 minutes of whisking the coconut cream should be smooth and fluffy.
Doing this by hand is possible, but took me over 10 minutes vigorously whisking with a balloon whisk.
Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. It can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Fruit
Simply cut up the fruit and set aside some whole pieces to decorate.
If using strawberries, you can also slice them in half and place the cross-sections along the sides of the cup.
Assembly
Start by layering the pieces of cake, then pipe (or simply spoon) the coconut cream on, place the berries, and repeat.
If adding custard as well, do it before the coconut cream layer. Here is the order:
- Cake
- (Optional) custard
- Coconut whipped cream
- Slices of fruit
- Cake
- (Optional) custard
- Coconut whipped cream
- Slices & whole pieces of fruit
That's it! You can also use shorter cups and place only one layer of each ingredient. So easy and fun to make!
⏲️ Storing Trifle
Trifle doesn't hold up too well once assembled—store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours if you must.
Longer than that and the fruits' colors will bleed into the cream layers.
The best way of storing trifle for longer is to refrigerate or freeze each layer individually and to assemble them right before serving.
❓ FAQs
Trifle is a dessert that originated in England. It is made with layers of fruit, sponge cake, whipped cream, custard, and sometimes jelly. The cake is usually soaked in brandy or sherry, giving trifle its alternative name: tipsy cakes.
The word trifle comes from the old French term 'trufe' which means of little consequence. Sounds like whoever named trifle knew how easy it was to make!
Trifle dessert is from England.
The taste of trifle will depend on which layers you use. It usually will taste similar to a fruit layer cake—but feel much lighter because it has much higher ratios of fruits and of cream or custard.
Usually, yes. English trifle has a layer of custard.
Most trifle is not vegan due to the sponge layer (often made with dairy & eggs), as well as the cream and custard layers (dairy and sometimes eggs).
It is very easy to make trifle vegan, though. Especially if you're planning on serving it at a party in this day and age where food intolerances or special diets run rampant, your guests may be very thankful to have a plant-based option!
Most likely, no. Trifle often has a layer of angel food or another type of cake, which 99% of the time is not gluten-free. Swap the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free version to make trifle GF-friendly.
🌱 Other Delicious Vegan Recipes
Craving more dessert? Try the classic marshmallowy Turkish delight, the vegan chocolate-hazelnut mousse, chewy pumpkin-chocolate cookies, or homemade fruit rollups for a healthier option!
Did you make this vegan trifle cups recipe? I'd love to hear about it! Please comment and leave a star🌟 rating below. This helps me run Aegean Delight and I always appreciate it 🙂
Print📖 Recipe
Vegan Trifle Cups
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 Trifle Cups 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Vegan trifle cups are perfect for the USA's Independence Day, but you really don’t need to be celebrating anything to enjoy one! It’s made with the best vegan vanilla cake ever, but you can also use a box mix or even Graham crackers in a pinch.
Ingredients
- 4 cups of batter vanilla cake, cut into ½" cubes (See Notes)
- 1 ½ cups strawberries, sliced
- 1 cup strawberries, whole
- 1 ½ cups blueberries, sliced
- 1 cup blueberries, whole
- 1 ½ cups whipped coconut cream (homemade or store-bought)
- optional: 1 ½ cups custard (See Notes)
- optional: ½ cup brandy or sherry
For Whipped Coconut Cream:
- 360 grams (~ 1 ½ cups; 1 standard can) coconut cream, chilled
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (or sweetener of choice)
- optional: pinch of cream of tartar (for longer holding power)
Instructions
Coconut Whipped Cream:
- Place the chilled coconut cream into a medium-sized bowl. Add the powdered sugar (or another sweetener of choice) and the optional cream of tartar, and whip with an electric mixer/whisker.
- It will likely look grainy at first, but just keep whisking! After about 2 minutes of whisking the coconut cream should be smooth and fluffy. Doing this by hand is possible, but took me over 10 minutes vigorously whisking with a balloon whisk.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. It can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Optional: Soaking Cakes in Liquor
- Meanwhile, if using liquor, place all the cubed pieces of cake into a large bowl and pour over the liquor. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours so that the cake soaks up the liquid.
Assembly
- Start by layering the pieces of cake, then pipe (or simply spoon) the coconut cream on, place the berries, and repeat. Finish with whole pieces of fruit to decorate. If adding custard as well, do it before the coconut cream layer.
- You can also use shorter cups and place only one layer of each ingredient.
Saving
- Trifle doesn't hold up too well once assembled—store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours if you must. Longer than that and the fruits' colors will bleed into the cream layers. The best way of storing trifle for longer is to refrigerate or freeze each layer individually and to assemble them right before serving.
Notes
Cake — You can use a square (8" or 9") pan, an 8" round pan, or even cupcake tins to bake 4 cups of cake batter. I'd suggest a wider square tin (9") to get minimal doming and neat cubes, but a cupcake tin is the fastest option. A regular box mix cake also yields about 4 cups of batter, so feel free to go that route as well! In a pinch, even crushed-up Graham crackers will work.
Coconut Cream — Use a brand that has guar gum added for smoothest results. Full fat coconut milk (canned, not ones sold in cartons) will work too, but you may need to use about 1.25x more of it for similar results. Refrigerate the coconut cream (or milk) overnight, placing the can upside down, to be able to scoop out the cream without any additional water.
Custard — Classic English trifle has a layer of custard, so you can add it to the recipe as well! This burned pudding recipe has a great custard layer. You can make ¼ of that recipe, leaving out the mastic gum.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: English
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