A great trifle can be the ultimate Christmas dessert, with vibrant colours, textures and flavours that are sure to make you and your guests smile in satisfaction. And whether you like it the traditional way as Grandma used to make it, or you fancy making it sparkle just a tiny bit more with the addition of figs, pears and quince, you’ll be sure to find something that satisfies every guest’s taste in this collection of our most popular trifle recipes for Christmas – or any time you fancy.
Tiramisu trifle
Decadent Black Forest trifle
Classic Christmas trifle
Ultimate trifle
Raspberry and almond trifle
Rosé and raspberry trifle
Baklava and Turkish delight trifles
Champagne & orange French macaron trifle
Chocolate raspberry tiramisu trifle
Christmas trifle cake
Trifle torta
Panettone trifle
Black forest trifle
Classic trifle
Lemon curd, blueberry and meringue trifle
Summer mixed berry trifle
Pear and marshmallow trifles
White chocolate, Irish cream and berry trifle
Ultimate berry mascarpone trifle
Julie Goodwin shares her chocolate trifle recipe
Grandma’s trifle
Peach and nectarine trifle
Pavlova trifles
4 tips for your Christmas trifle
- Remember to allow time for the jelly to set, and for cake or other components to absorb sherry or other flavouring.
- For a non-alcoholic version, you can use fruit juice in place of sherry (or other alcohol) for most trifle recipes.
- Check the recipe to find out how long you need to refrigerate the trifle before serving, as it can be several hours for some recipes (including the classic trifle and white chocolate, Irish cream and berry trifle recipes.
- If you have leftover trifle, cover and store it in the fridge. It should keep for a few days, as long as you put it back in the refrigerator soon after serving. As a general guide, foodstandards.gov.au advises businesses to follow the 2-hour/4-hour rule, which you could also apply at home. Basically, aim to get leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours (or less time, ideally) and don’t eat them if it’s been 4 hours or more.
Is it better to make a trifle the night before?
You can make most of these trifle recipes a day in advance (or even several days ahead in some cases) but you could also choose to make it on the day. Just keep in mind that traditional trifle recipes typically include jelly, which needs time to set when you make it yourself. So it could be helpful to prepare the jelly or the entire Christmas trifle in advance.
Other components, such as sponge cake or biscuits might get soggy if you prepare your trifle too far in advance of serving it. So once you have picked a recipe, you could read method to decide when you want to make the trifle.
