I’m always looking for easy and tasty summer recipes, so I thought I’d share this one—it’s a keeper!
This is a great little recipe that my mom introduced me to—she found it in Tyler Florence’s cookbook Tyler’s Ultimate: Brilliant Simple Food to Cook Anytime. But you can also find the full Berry Trifle recipe on the Food Network. I can attest that this recipe is both brilliant and simple. Double whammy.
What makes it so simple is that you use store-bought pound cake for the base, so no baking required, no need to heat up your kitchen on a hot summer afternoon. All you need to do is assemble and slice some fresh berries—I picked up blueberries from the market and strawberries from my local farm stand:
You’ll add some fresh lemon juice, sugar, and cornstarch to the berries and then simmer this mixture for a few minutes until the berries release their juices. In the interim, you can quickly whip up the whipped cream. The secret ingredient is lemon curd—real whipped cream is amazing on its own, but when you pair it with the lemon curd, you’re entering a different realm. The lemon flavor makes this truly taste like summer. It’s so rich, but so fresh!
Once you’ve got the whipping cream together, all that’s left to do is assembling the trifle. You can layer the pound cake, berries, and lemon curd in a lovely trifle bowl, as shown here in Tyler’s cookbook. This would be a great dessert to serve at the end of a casual summer dinner with friends (easy but still impressive!):
Or, if you’re like me (i.e. more impatient!), you can elect to go the more casual route: simply slice the pound cake and top with berries and that lovely lemon-curd whipped cream! The version below maybe ever-so-slightly less fancy but no less tasty, I can assure you!
Enjoy, and buon appetito!
Anna xo