Cherry-Almond Christmas Trifle
It’s the most wonderful time of the year… but also one of the craziest. Whether you are hosting a Christmas party of your own or just bringing a dish to share, we all strive to present an impressive holiday-inspired dish. With all of the last minute shopping, wrapping, cookie baking, and trying to squeeze in all of the obligatory Christmas activities, the best Christmas dessert is one that comes together quickly and still looks fancy.
This Cherry-Almond Christmas Trifle does just that. A simple cake, jarred sour cherries, nearly effortless cream cheese whipped cream, AND it is best made at least one or two days ahead.
The first step is making the cake. Measure the diameter of your trifle dish, you will want to use a round cake pan slightly larger so that you can cut away the edges and have a clean, beautiful edge showing through the glass. My trifle bowl is just over 7 inches in diameter, so I used an 8-inch round cake pan. If you have a bowl that is significantly wider at the top, you may want to use two different pan sizes and you will need to adjust cooking times for each pan. Measure the diameter both at the bottom of the trifle bowl and about midway to the top.
Bake two cake layers and allow them to cool. I used a paper template to check the sizing of the trifle bowl and serve as a guide to cut the cake layers to the appropriate sizes. Use a cake leveler or a long knife to cut off the top of each cake so that each layer is about 1 inch tall. Mine were about 1 1/4-inch and I found that to be just slightly too much cake.
While the cakes are cooling, open the jars of sour cherries (this is probably the hardest part… seriously – I had to soak the lids in hot water and do every other jar opening trick I could think of before I finally muscled them off!). I used two 24-oz jars of Dark Morello Cherries, but Amarena Cherries would probably work as well – just watch jar sizes as you will want a total of 48-oz of jarred sour cherries in syrup. Drain the cherries and reserve the syrup. Pour the reserved syrup into a pan and simmer until it has reduced by about half.
Beat cream cheese until softened, add sugar, then slowly add heavy cream a little at a time to maintain a smooth consistency. Whip the mixture until soft peaks form, do not over beat cream cheese whipped cream or you risk breaking the whipped cream. The whipped cream cheese filling should be just slightly sweet.
To assemble the trifle, place one layer of cake into the bottom of the trifle bowl. Top with half of the drained cherries and drizzle with half of the reduced syrup. Top with half of the whipped cream cheese filling. I like the put in in a piping bag or gallon zip top bag with the corner cut off to pipe dollops of filling for a nicer presentation. If you have sliced almonds, you can toast those and add a thin layer of those here.
Repeat layering, but reserve a bit of the filling to pipe decorative dollops of filling around the outside edge. Top with a sprinkling of toasted, sliced almonds if you have them, or just shave a dark chocolate bar on top as I did.
Cover and refrigerate for at least one to two days before serving. We ate the leftovers for about 4 or 5 days and it only got better the longer it sat!
Cherry Almond Christmas Trifle
Equipment
- Trifle bowl
Ingredients
Almond Cake
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 3 eggs
Cherry layer
- 48 oz sour cherries in syrup Morello recommended, Amarena probably acceptable substitute
- 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds **Optional
Cream Cheese Whipped Cream
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup confectioners sugar *or more, to taste – but should be less sweet to balance the sweetness of the cake and cherries
Instructions
Almond Cake
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 round baking pans slightly larger than your trifle bowl (recommended 8 to 9 inch round cake pans).
- Measure all ingredients into larger mixing bowl. Blend on low speed to combine, then beat for 3 minutes on high speed, scraping the bowl occasionally.
- Pour into baking pans and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for about 10 minutes then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling prior to trimming for assembly.
Cherry Layer
- While cake cools, open jars of cherries. Drain cherries, reserve syrup.
- Pour reserved syrup into a small sauce pan and simmer on medium heat until reduced to about half the original volume. Set aside to cool.
Cream Cheese Whipped Cream
- Beat cream cheese in stand mixer with paddle attachment until softened. Add sugar and beat just to combine.
- Switch to whisk attachment, add cream a little at a time and mix on low just to combine with softened cream cheese.
- Once all heavy cream is added, increase to medium speed and whip just to firm peaks. Be careful to not over beat or whipped cream may break. Place in refrigerator until ready to assemble.
Trifle Assembly
- Cut cakes down to about 1 inch tall using a cake leveler or a long knife. Cut outside edges of cake to match the diameter of your trifle bowl – use a paper template to guide you.
- Place one cake layer into bottom of trifle bowl. Top with half of the drained cherries. Drizzle reduced cherry syrup on top of cherries. *Sprinkle optional toasted sliced almonds here if using.
- Spoon cream cheese whipped cream into a piping bag or a gallon sized zip-top bag. Cut off corner of the bag and pipe filling onto cherry layer. Alternately, spoon half of the filling onto the cherry layer, being careful to not smear the filling onto the glass bowl.
- Repeat layering remainder of cake, cherries, syrup, and filling. Reserve a bit of the filling layer to make decorative dollops around the outside edge. Fill the center with shaved chocolate and/or toasted, sliced almonds.
- Chill in refrigerator for at least 1 to 2 days before serving.
