Quick Balsamic Strawberry Trifle

I know it's the holidays, and many people are busy out and about with the season's festivities... so I'm going to keep this one short. Just thought to share a recipe for this simple but most flavorful quick strawberry trifle -- because while it's hard to go wrong with the classic strawberries and cream combo, this trifle is made with balsamic roasted strawberries, which makes it mega flavorful and such a pretty treat too.

I say this recipe is "quick" because it's not a strawberry trifle in the traditional sense -- i.e. it's not laden with dairy, and has no custard. But it's lovely and festive just the same.

For the cake part, any of the recipes below can work:

• Classic Cashew Vanilla Birthday Cake (this is what I used here)
• White Texas Sheet Cake (this classic vanilla cake, minus the frosting, is super delicate and would work wonderful here for a melt-in-your-mouth kind of a treat)
• Pistachio and Rose Cake (because pistachios, roses, and strawberries are clearly most compatible :) )
• Coconut Tres Leches Cake (the cake base without the topping or soaking syrup; note this cake is absolutely delicious, but more amber in color)
• Almond Rosemary and Pine Cake (this will be super duper flavorful :) but makes a nice grain-free cake base alternative)

Or if you want to go chocolate here:

• Nothing beats this Duncan Hines-Style Chocolate Cake
• This Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake is also pretty spiffy
• Or can go no-bake on this and use these No-Bake Brownie Bites

Don't say I didn't give you any options, k? ;)

Really though, I think the brilliance of this kind of recipe is that it's a wonderful way to freshen leftover cake from the holiday table, and better yet, it's a great way to make use of some cake fail attempts... So if your cake didn't quite turn out as planned but still tastes half-way-decent, using it up in a recipe like is the path to salvaging that cake ;)

Quick Balsamic Strawberry Trifle

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★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

• Author: Audrey @ Unconventional Baker
• Prep Time: 1 hour
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 4 - 6 servings
• Category: trifle
• Method: baked
• Cuisine: dessert

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Description

A delicious medley of fluffy vanilla cake, coconut whipped cream, and roasted balsamic strawberries. This strawberry trifle is vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free.

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Ingredients

Vanilla Cake:

• ½ a batch of this gluten-free vegan vanilla cake recipe*

Balsamic Strawberries:

• a double batch of this recipe

Coconut Whipped Cream:

• 2 cups coconut cream (only the solid white part — see notes)**
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ⅛ tsp salt

Toppings:

• Fresh strawberry slices, rose petals and buds

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Instructions

1. Follow instructions in this recipe to make the cake. Cool off completely on a rack. Cut into 1" squares.
2. Prepare the roasted balsamic strawberries as per directions in this recipe. Cool off on a rack.
3. Make coconut whip by placing all the solid coconut cream into a large mixing bowl and mix lightly with a hand mixer to whip it up. Add in all remaining coconut whip ingredients and mix lightly again to incorporate. Note: you don’t want to over-mix. When done, it should look like this:
   
4. ASSEMBLEY: layer spoonfuls of cream, cake, and balsamic strawberries, distributing them evenly between 4 jars (or more, if using smaller jars). Top with more coconut cream. Decorate with fresh strawberries and a sprinkle of rose petals. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

*See alternative cake recipe suggestions above the recipe.

**The coconut cream used in this recipe is only the firm white stuff gathered at the top of chilled cans of full-fat coconut milk. You’ll need to chill the cans in an upright position overnight for the cream to separate from the water and surface up to the top. I used the Thai Kitchen full fat coconut milk cans for this recipe and I find that the large 400ml cans yield about ¾ cups cream each once chilled and separated, and the tiny cans (160ml) yield about ⅓ cup cream each (I prefer working with the smaller cans as they seem to separate better). Reserve the remaining water for other uses, only use the firm white cream for the whip. Note that it’s very important for the full fat coconut milk cans to be chilled first so it separates. If the solids aren’t this thick when you open the can, the whip isn’t going to work as well and will be too liquid: