Hiya! Sneaking this in under the wire! Such a busy week—hope yours has been going well and that you’re gearing up for a some socially responsible R&R this holiday weekend. Maybe you know exactly what you’re serving or bringing this weekend, but if you don’t, I think you’re definitely going to want to consider these adorable Triple Berry Mason Jar Trifles. They’re red, white and blue deliciousness!!

Traditionally, trifles are an English dessert consisting of some sort of cake or ladyfingers soaked in sherry and layered in a big wide glass bowl with custard, fruit and cream so that you can see the different layers. They were probably created by housewives who wanted to use up stale cake and leftover fruit! Who’s going to notice that the cake is dried out when it’s soaked in sherry and covered with custard etc.?!! Clever girls, no?

Today, that’s just the jumping off point and only your imagination is the limit when concocting trifles. Today, we’re using vanilla bean poundcake drizzled with some vanilla syrup, vanilla pudding, whipped cream, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries but the truth is that you could use any sort of cake or even brownies as your base and any sort of fruit and cream, curd or yogurt to make the layers. So don’t be afraid to get creative or use substitutions!

There are also extremely versatile and forgiving in the time and effort department. You can make everything from scratch or basically buy it all and just assemble, depending on your energy and time and I promise you that they will be met with oohs and aahs no matter what!

I did make the cake— (it’s a keeper whether you’re making trifles or just want a simple, little, easy-to-make loaf pound cake)

And the vanilla syrup (good, but this is one part I think you could skip—I don’t really feel you need to soak the cake, unless maybe yours is very stale. The pudding and whipped cream soak in and definitely soften it up.)

I think I would take the time and make the vanilla bean pudding from scratch, since it’s so lush and silky smooth—

And the whipped cream, ‘cause it takes just a second or two and is totally over-the-top better than the kind from a can.

Every bite is light and full of summer berry goodness!

And all in your own little socially distant, personal jar. Could anything get more perfect?!!

Have a wonderful and safe July 4th everyone!!!See you next week with more food and fun!!xoxo

Triple Berry Mason Jar Trifles

Makes 6 eight-ounce jars

Prep Time for cake: 15 minutes; Bake Time: 60-65 minutes; Prep Time for Vanilla Syrup: 10 minutes; Prep Time for Pudding: 20 minutes; Prep Time for whipped cream: 5 minutes; Assembly Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

For the Vanilla Bean Pound cake

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus additional softened butter for greasing the pan
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise in half
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
1 ½ cups cake flour
⅓ cup buttermilk

For the Vanilla Syrup

¾ cup sugar
½ cup water
½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise in half

For the Vanilla Pudding

2 1/2 cup whole milk, divided
⅔ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

For the Whipped Cream

2 cups heavy cream, cold
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

For the Trifles

Pint each of fresh raspberries, blueberries and strawberries (hull and slice the strawberries)

The Recipe

1. For the Vanilla Bean Pound Cake: Preheat oven to 325ºF and grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper and butter the paper as well. Set aside the pan.

2. Place the butter, sugar and salt in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the bowl as well and discard the pod. Beat the mixture well until creamy and fluffy, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. One at a time, add in the eggs and yolks, scraping down the sides between each addition and beating well.

3. Remove the bowl from the mixer and sift the flour over the mixture. Use the spatula to fold it in a few times and then pour in the buttermilk. Fold the whole thing together gently, until no traces of flour can be seen. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

4. Bake for about 60-65 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out entirely clean. If it comes out with any moist crumbs attached, bake until it doesn’t or the cake will be gummy. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then turn out and let cool completely on the rack.

5. Cake can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept at room temperature, well wrapped.

6. To make the vanilla syrup: Into a small saucepan, add the sugar and water and scrape the vanilla bean seeds into it. Stir together and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, until slightly thickened. Let cool. You can make this 1 or 2 days ahead and store in an airtight container or jar in the fridge.

7. To make the vanilla pudding: Place the 2 cups of milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan and scrape the vanilla bean seeds, if using, into it, as well as the pod. Cook for a few minutes until the mixture begins to steam.

8. Meanwhile combine the remaining ½ cup milk and cornstarch together into a bowl until well-blended without any lumps. Remove the vanilla bean pod. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pot and stir occasionally until the mixture starts to thicken and almost boils. about 5 minutes. Then lower the heat to very low and stir for about 5 minutes more until the pudding is very thick. Add in the butter and vanilla extract if using instead of the vanilla bean and stir well to blend. Remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until well chilled. You can make this up to one day ahead, any earlier and the pudding will start to separate and get watery.

9. Right before you are ready to make the trifles, cut the pound cake into bite-sized cubes and whip the cream with the confectioners’ sugar. Now get to work layering. Place a layer of the cake in the bottom of each of the jars. Drizzle on a little of the vanilla syrup. Top that with a layer of pudding and gently press down so that the pound cake gets a little submerged into the pudding but still maintains a separate layer. Top with a layer or strawberries and then a layer of whipped cream. Now repeat the whole process changing up the fruit—I used the blueberries for my second layer and for my final layer I topped the trifles with raspberries, but really the order is totally up to you. You can serve these right away but it’s probably best to make them early in the day and cover with a little plastic wrap and chill in the fridge—doing this allows all the flavors and textures to meld together.

10. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days. Things will get a little soggy but it will still taste delish!

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe for pound cake adapted from Desserts from The Famous Loveless Cafe by Alisa Huntsman; Vanilla Syrup recipe adapted from The Kitchn; Recipe for pudding adapted from The NY Times via Mark Bittman.