Very Berry Cheesecake Trifle

Very Berry Cheesecake Trifle!  Just look at this berry filled layered beauty….all patriotic with it’s red strawberries, white fluffy cheesecake filling and plump blue berries.  What a glorious addition to your 4th of July cookout.  It’s a great dessert to serve for a hot summer day.  It’s very light, cold and deliciously satisfying and better yet it’s very easy to make.

This dessert is best if made the day before you’re ready to serve it.  The pound cake will become super moist and flavorful as it soaks up the juices from the berries.  Start by getting your strawberries cleaned and sliced.  Sprinkle ¼ cup sugar over the sliced strawberries and let sit for at least a few hours.  Preferably do this the day before you assemble the trifle as more juices will develop that are so yummy when soaked into the pound cake.  If you are in a pinch for time add a few table spoons of water in with the strawberries and sugar and stick them in the fridge for a few hours..

To make the cheesecake filling, add 12 oz of softened cream cheese to a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the cream cheese becomes smooth.  Add the sour cream, sugar and vanilla extract and beat until the mixture is light and creamy.  Add the Extra Creamy Cool Whip and continue to beat until well combined.Cut the pound cake in ¼ inch slices and arrange in the bottom of your trifle dish.  Cut to fit as necessary so that the pieces of cake fit fairly closely together.   Spread a layer of berries and their juices over the cake.   Spread about one third of the cheesecake mixture over top of the berries.  Then repeat the process until your trifle dish is maxed out.  For me that was 3 layers.

For this Very Berry Cheesecake Trifle I made my home made Cream Cheese Pound Cake and my own cheesecake filling.  But if you want a few easy store bought shortcuts get a container of Philadelphia No Bake Cheese Cake Filling and a Sara Lee Frozen Pound Cake and you can pull this together in no time.  You can also change up the berries and add any that you prefer.  You’ll have yourself an impressive dessert for your buffet table that will feed a crowd.