Elderflower syrup is sweetly floral, similar in taste to honeysuckle. It’s common throughout Europe and the UK, and has begun to make inroads in specialty stores and cocktail bars in the US. If you can’t find it, the syrup from canned lychees makes a good substitute. Trifles are a classic British summer dessert; they’re light, sweet, and full of juicy fruit.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 3 hr 15 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Inactive: | 3 hr |
| Yield: | 10 to 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 5 cups strawberries (about 2 pounds)
- 3 cups blackberries (about 10 ounces)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream, chilled
- 1/3 cup elderflower syrup or lychee syrup
- 1 prepared angel food cake
Instructions
- Reserve a handful of the prettiest whole strawberries and blackberries for topping the trifle.
- Hull and halve the remaining strawberries, and toss them with the sugar in a medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside until they get juicy, about 1 hour. (If you’re in a hurry, set the bowl over a pot of simmering water for about 5 minutes to speed this up.)
- Whip the cream in a chilled bowl until it holds soft peaks. Fold the elderflower syrup into the cream and keep chilled until ready to assemble the trifle.
- Tear or cut the angel food cake into 2-inch pieces. Scatter about half the cake on the bottom of a trifle dish or clear glass bowl. Ladle half of the berries and their juices on top of the cake, and then top with half the whipped cream. Repeat with the remaining cake, berries and cream to finish the trifle. Garnish the top of the trifle with the reserved whole berries and refrigerate for 2 and up to 24 hours. Serve chilled.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 248 |
| Total Fat | 15 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 29 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 24 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Cholesterol | 54 mg |
| Sodium | 35 mg |
Reviews
This is a terrific dessert. I read the reviews first and replaced the elderflower with blackberry syrup, added blueberries as well as vanilla in the whipped cream.It was a huge hit for Mother’s Day. I also let it sit overnight for all the flavors to meld.
my favorite!!! i make before!!!!! but i use 400ml h.cream, 60gm sugar(icing sugar), mix berry syrup(make my self)…..
This is my favorite summer recipe and everyone loves it! It’s so simple to put together. I could never find elderflower or lychee syrup and use a top of the line thick golden syrup. When I mix the syrup and heavy cream together it has a carmel texture/taste to it. You can not go wrong with this dessert. It’s the best!
Easy, Simple and tastes great. For the lychee syrup, I bought a can of lychees (usually in Asian markets) and used the syrup. (Chill the can to snack on the lychees later!) Also, I used Sara Lee pound cake instead of angel food cake. It’s a different texture, but I love pound cake better.
So delicious – just disappeared! Making another one. Added blueberries, as suggested by others. Also, added 2 Tbl. Cointreau orange liquor to cream after whipped, instead of the syrup. Perfect red, white & blue look for the summer. Put whipped cream in a piping bag and made a beautiful top decoration.
I haven’t tried this yet, but the comments seem to be AMAZING!!! I think this one will be on my “Top Ten List”… I would definitely reccomend it when I try it! Food Network has NEVER let me down!!!
This is THE best dessert I have EVER made. It was SOOOO amazing I couldn’t get enough of it. I made this for a labor day weekend bbq and it was gone in seconds. EVERYONE loved it 🙂 I used blueberries instead of blackberries and blueberry syrup instead of lychee syrup. It was absolutely AMAZING!!! I can’t wait to make it again! It was soooooooo good! The homemade whip cream really just made the whole thing. I let the trifle sit in the fridge for about 24 hours before serving, which really let all the flavors blend together.I also added 1 sugar packet and a tiny bit of vanilla to the heavy cream to get it going and for a little more flavor. It was excellent and by far the best dessert ever made 🙂 SOOOO YUMMY!
I made this for a kid’s party last weekend and it was gone in minutes. It was so easy to make and was very very refreshing and delicious. I also added blueberries and called it a “triple berry trifle” :-). Will definitely make it again… a lot. Thank you.
All I can say is delicious, delicious, delicious!! You don’t have too much berry juice to spoon on the angel food cake, so the cake was so fluffy like that familiar texture of angel food. I didn’t have the elderflower syrup, so I used agavee nectar. so good! everyone has to try this once!
This dessert truly is excellent! I think the angle cake works very well with the rest of the recipe. I ended up adding blueberries along with the other berries and it was just delicious. I also added all the juices from the strawberries and it did not end up soggy at all. I distributed the juices evenly. All my guests served themselves seconds, including myself!