Pipe Dream #128: To Care About Trifling Details – Gluten Free Berry Trifle

In college I had a few friends who were gluten intolerant, and I know it was the worst not being able to eat the carbs that everyone else did. It was a bit shocking to put myself in their shoes. I could never eat a cupcake again, and since probably 1/3 of my nutrition in college came directly from baked goods made with wheat flour, I would probably have died, not because I wasn’t eating enough, but because killing my sugar addiction would have killed me. Probably.

Since that time, I have been really careful about including gluten-free recipes in my repertoire. It gives me more joy to feed gluten-intolerant people because I know that they are really getting a treat and they know that I care about them. Not everyone remembers to provide a gluten-free option, and many gluten-free recipes are highly average. Not that awareness of the issue in the past few years hasn’t increased the standard of gluten-free baked goods. It definitely has. But still, when you find a gluten free pound cake recipe as good as this one, you’ve gotta share it.

And trust me. This pound cake recipe is a good one. I may never make a regular pound cake again. the edges were delightfully crisp, but not dry. In fact, the thing didn’t dry out, even when the leftover slices sat in the sun for two days.

However, the real reason for making this cake was not so we could all eat cake, bright opportunity though it may be. No, the real reason was so that I could make this berry trifle which had been floating around in my brain. I wanted cake, but gluten-free. I wanted cream cheese, but not frosting. I wanted fresh fruit, not chocolate (wait, what?).

Enter easiest, most impressive party dessert of the century. Pretty, delicious and functional. Functional meaning it stood up to the 100 degree heat. Serious prop-age.

And since I was going for the trifling details on this one, I figured I would dress to match. Why the heck not?

For more gluten free recipes, you can check out my gluten-free dark chocolate cherry cupcakes, or the host of meringues that infest this site.

Infesting in the best,

Lauren

Gluten-Free Berry Trifle

For the pound cake:

Check out gluten free easily for the recipe.

A couple of additional notes:

-My flour blend was six parts Asian rice flour to 2 parts potato starch to 1 part tapioca starch. You can use whatever blend your heart desires. There are a lot of premixed ones that will work just fine.

-gluten free easily suggests using coconut milk, but I just used whole milk, so you just go ahead and use whatever you want.

For the whipped filling:

8 ounces cream cheese

2 cups (16 ounces) heavy whipping cream

8 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat eight ounces of cream cheese until soft and workable. Add two cups of heavy whipping cream (I think I may have added a bit more than that), and beat until soft peaks form. Add two teaspoons vanilla extract and eight tablespoons of powdered sugar, and beat until stiff peaks form.

To make the trifle:

berry liqueur (I used some raspberry liqueur we had lying around)

berries (I used strawberries and blueberries)

Brush pound cake with berry liqueur and dice into 1 inch cubes. Wash berries. Slice strawberries vertically.

Cover the bottom of the trifle dish with a layer of the cream mixture. Add a single layer of pound cake cubes, followed by about 1/4 of the cream mixture. Add a layer of berries. Repeat these steps, continuing to layer with different berries, until the trifle dish is filled. Top with remaining cream mixture and decorate with berries.

Chill trifle for at least three hours before serving. It should last up to two days in the fridge before it begins to break down, but I didn’t test this theory, so if it breaks down, I’m really, really sorry. You can complain to me in the comments.