Blog Every Day in July: Day 3, A Trifle for the Fourth

I love the 4th of July.  I'm not kidding.  I'm pretty sure that I like it even more than Christmas.

I think it's because it's such a relaxing holiday.  You don't have to stress out about buying people presents, and making an extravagant feast.  Although...I do love burgers and hot dogs.  And dips.  And potato salad.  It's all low key, though.  And that's the main thing.  The 4th of July is just a day to take a break and enjoy the summer heat.

(I just reread that paragraph and I sound like a nervous contestant on the Next Food Network Star.  Jeez.  You know what??  4TH OF JULY RULES.  GRILLIN'.  CHILLIN'.  'MMURRICA.)

This summer my friends Tovah and Nick are hosting their annual 4th of July party as a potluck.  And I insisted that everything that everyone brings should be patriotic.  I'm not even kidding.

I think I may have been a little aggressive...

Anyways, I decided that bringing patriotic macarons would be too complicated, and a whole cake would be too heavy, and that brownies were just...not patriotic enough.  So I opted to make one of my favorite desserts...a nice, light, patriotic trifle.

Please note: my friend Sarah sitting in the background,
texting instead of getting out of the way.  Rude.

Here's the cast of characters: some torn up angel food cake, lemon pudding, blueberries and strawberries, and whipped cream.

*whispers*art

I got pretty flexible with the recipe, since I couldn't find any that I really loved.  I'd say that my version was a combination of this recipe and this recipe.  I made the whipped cream myself because I thought it would be a nice homemade touch, and I used a box mix for the angel food cake because I couldn't find any in the bakery aisle.  I just made sure to over-bake it a bit (which wasn't hard...angel food cake is rough, man) and then I ripped it into pieces. I also opted to use lemon pudding, even though it was neither red, white, or blue.  Mainly because I forgot that lemon pudding is yellow.  I just really love lemon pudding.  IT'S YELLOW IN HONOR OF MY ASIAN HERITAGE, OKAY??  Anyways, I used jell-o lemon pudding.

Assembling the trifle is pretty simple.

First I laid down some of the pudding on the bottom, just to give the cake something to stick to (...I don't really think it was necessary.  It's not like the cake is goin' anywhere...).

...I accidentally started the next step before taking a picture.
NOBODY IS PERFECT.

Then I put some pieces of cake over top.  And as you can see, after you put the cake in you add another layer of pudding.

After that I put down the fruit.  I love me some berries....especially blueberries.  I'm obsessed with that stuff.

Then I topped it off with whipped cream, and started it all over again with the cake (as you can see by my stellar inability to photo-document a recipe step-by-step).

And then I repeated the whole process: cake, pudding, berries, whipped cream.

Uhh ignore the messy countertop.

In order to make this trifle super patriotic, I did my best to make a flag on top of the whipped cream.  I think it turned out pretty good!  I posted the recipe down below, after the jump.

I love these bowls.  I love them so much,
I want to marry them.

The best part of making this was that I had a bunch of leftover pudding and cake.  So I did my best to stretch the last of the blueberries and I scraped out a mini-dollop's worth of whipped cream, and I made some mini-trifles for me and Sarah.  Mmmmmmm.  De-lish!

Oh yeah.  This is a flag I would definitely pledge my allegiance to.

So what are your plans for the 4th of July?  Is there any food that you are looking forward to having?  Let me know in the comments!!

Patriotic Trifle Recipe:

Ingredients:

-1 Pint of whipping cream

-1 tablespoon of sugar

-2 boxes of lemon pudding mix

-1 angel food cake (store bought or homemade), ripped into large chunks

-1 1/2 pints of blueberries (set aside the 1/2 pint)

-16 oz of strawberries, sliced

-1 trifle dish

Directions:

Pre-assembly-

1.) Add sugar to the whipping cream, and using either a hand mixer or a stand mixer, whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Keep refrigerated until needed.

2.) Prepare the lemon pudding mix according to the instructions on the packaging.  Set aside until needed.

To assemble the trifle-

1.) Spread a thin layer of lemon pudding on the bottom of the trifle dish.

2.) Place about two handfuls of angel food cake pieces on top of the pudding.

3.) Spoon about a third of the remaining pudding on top of the cake, and spread evenly.

4.) Place strawberries and blueberries on top of the pudding.  Use about half of the pint of blueberries, and a third of the strawberries.

5.) Spoon half of the whipped cream on top of the berries, and spread evenly.

6.) Repeat steps 2-5.

7.) Decorate the top with the remaining third of the strawberries, and the last 1/2 pint of blueberries.  Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

8.) CELEBRATE YOUR FREEDOM