I decided to make an Easy Vegan Trifle recipe as even though I love Christmas it can so often be really stressful. Long, complicated recipes for Christmas day don’t help. So I thought an easy dessert option was the way to go for those who are short on time or feeling a bit stressed and overwhelmed.
This recipe is easy as I haven’t made every part from scratch. If you’re looking for a recipe that you can show off and say “I spent a whole day in the kitchen making every little element from scratch”, this recipe is not for you. Making things from scratch is great but honestly there are so many good vegan alternatives, it’s not really necessary, and it’s something I’m willing to forgo in the name of less stress. I made the sponge cake from scratch, but all other elements are store bought. Unless you count whipping cream as making from scratch?
Trifle has been on our family’s Christmas menu for literally as long as I can remember. My Nana would make it every single year and it was SO GOOD. She set the standard pretty high and her way of making trifle is how I’ve always done it. The bottom layer would be sponge soaked in sherry (I’m pretty sure she even left the sherry in when we were kids!), followed by strawberries and sliced tinned peaches, then raspberry jelly, custard and finally whipped cream with more strawberries and peaches. My recipe below is pretty much a vegan version of this. For my first vegan trifle I chose to keep with tradition. But I am keen to get a bit more creative and try some different trifle flavours for next Christmas.
Full disclaimer: this easy vegan trifle recipe is vegan but it is far from sugar free.
What is Trifle?
Trifle is a layered dessert which originated in England in the late 16th century. It evolved from another British dessert called a Fruit Fool which seems to have been stewed and pureed fruit folded into custard. It generally consists of sponge fingers soaked in sherry or other fortified wine, fruit, custard and whipped cream. In the early recorded trifle recipes jelly wasn’t originally an ingredient but recipes slowly changed and evolved and now it’s really common to include jelly in a trifle.
Nowadays trifle is often far less traditional, there are so many different flavours and ways of making it. Some don’t even include fruit!
What kitchen tools do I need to make Easy Vegan Trifle?
A Trifle bowl. If not a proper trifle bowl, try to use a large round glass or clear bowl – you want to see the layers!
Other than the bowl, you will need some pretty standard kitchen tools including:
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My Easy Vegan Trifle Layers
Obviously original trifle recipes are far from vegan. There’s sponge which often includes the use of eggs and butter, jelly which uses gelatin (usually made with animal collagen – gross), custard and cream. Pretty much the least vegan dessert you can get actually. However it’s really easy to veganise! So let’s talk about the layers and the animal-free ingredients:
Sponge Cake
The bottom layer of this trifle, and most trifle recipes is sponge cake. Traditionally sponge fingers are used in a trifle but I’ve always made mine with cake.
You have 2 options – either buy a pre-made vegan sponge cake, or make your own. Obviously buying will make this recipe even easier however you may have trouble finding a vegan store bought cake. If that’s the case, making your own is the next option. You may already have a go to recipe, if you do, by all means make that. But if you don’t, this is my recipe. (Just make the sponge cake and skip the strawberry compote and whipped cream parts of the recipe). If you do choose to make my recipe, you will note the cake cooks in 2 tins. Don’t try to get away with less dishes by cramming all the batter into one tin, it won’t cook properly. Then when you come to cutting up the cakes and putting the pieces into the trifle bowl, you should do 2 layers at the bottom, so you are using both cakes, or at least most of both cakes. The sponge layer will likely be too thin if you just use one cake.
Alcohol
As I mentioned above, my Nana always made her delicious trifle with sherry, and that is also what I used to do. Sherry is the traditional alcohol used in trifle. But as I also said, trifle recipes have changed and evolved a lot and therefore ingredients can be changed to pretty much anything you want. These days other types of alcohol such as madeira, brandy or even rum is used in trifle. Being a type of wine, both sherry and madeira are not traditionally vegan. Yes it is possible to find vegan sherry and probably vegan madeira. I looked for vegan sherry and was struggling to find one, so I changed it up and have used brandy instead. As brandy is a liqueur rather than a wine most are vegan. I went with KWV 5 year old brandy. If you are able to find a vegan sherry, you could use that.
If this trifle is going to feed children you can just omit the alcohol.
Fruit
The only layer which is naturally vegan! Traditionally I’ve also gone for fresh strawberries and sliced tinned peaches. I try to get peaches in juice rather than syrup as syrup tends to be higher in sugar. This year I also added blueberries. While I haven’t used them previously, I do love blueberries and they add an extra bit of colour.
You don’t need to stick to what I’ve used though, you can use any fruit you like!
Jelly
As I said most jelly is absolutely not vegan, it’s not even technically vegetarian. The setting agent in jelly; gelatin, is often made from literally boiling down animal parts. This isn’t the case for ALL gelatin but it’s impossible to know how the gelatin was made. So you will need to find a vegan jelly. I found a brand one called Just Whole Foods. They have a lot of different flavours, I used strawberry. These are also made with natural colours and flavours. One sachet also makes slightly more than a regular traditional jelly sachet, up to 568ml, so it’s a win-win!
Custard
Traditionally custard is made with cream and egg yolks. However it isn’t too hard to find a vegan store bought custard, even in little ol’ New Zealand. My local supermarket doesn’t stock a vegan custard, but to be fair my local is quite small and I live in a farming town so it isn’t particularly vegan friendly. I was able to find vegan custard online at New Zealand based vegan store The Cruelty Free Shop. I then later found the same brand at a different supermarket further from where I live. I used Alpro.
If you know how to make your own vegan custard then of course feel free to do that. I did start developing a vegan custard recipe, but I haven’t refined it yet, but you can expect to see that recipe coming soon.
Cream
Of course cream isn’t vegan, it’s made from cow’s milk. But luckily coconut cream whips up really nicely and is vegan!
The trick to getting nice thick coconut whipped cream is to refrigerate the cans of cream overnight. The fatty part of the cream will rise to the top while the water will stay in the bottom. When you’re ready to get whipping, scoop off only the top thick layer into a mixing bowl and leave the watery part behind. Whip the thick cream with electric beaters, adding sweetener or sugar if you like. Some coconut cream is actually already quite thick, which means you might find your whipped coconut cream is now too thick. If this happens pour in a little bit of the leftover coconut water and whip again. Repeat until you have the right consistency. I used Ceres Organics Coconut cream and needed to add a bit of the coconut water. Also heads up, as you’ll only be using half of the can plus the fact that coconut cream doesn’t gain as much volume as cow’s cream when whipped, you will need around 3-4 cans.
This easy vegan trifle can be made the day before and it will last in the fridge for about 4-5 days. It makes a LOT so you’ll most likely be eating leftovers for a few days.
You can hardly even tell the difference between this trifle and one made with animal products, so why not give it a go? Both your vegan and non-vegan friends and family are sure to love it!
For more vegan Christmas recipes check out my Stuffed Pumpkin, Nut Roast, Gingerbread Frappe or Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake!
Ingredients
Instructions
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Cut sponge into even sized squares (I cut mine into 16 pieces) and squish as many as you can into the bottom of a trifle bowl, you will likely have a few leftover pieces. Pour the brandy evenly over the sponge. NOTE: If you don't have a trifle bowl try to use a round, clear bowl.
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Remove the green tops of the strawberries and slice them in half, drain peaches. Put a bit more than half of the strawberries, peaches and blueberries on top of the sponge. Save the other half of the fruit or decorating later.
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Make jelly according to packet instructions up to the setting step. Once the jelly sachet is stirred into boiling water, leave to cool slightly before pouring over the sponge and fruit. Put the trifle bowl into the fridge until the jelly has set.
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Once the jelly has set, take the trifle bowl out of the fridge and pour the custard onto the layer of set jelly.
- To whip the cream, first make sure you have left the cans in the fridge overnight or for at least 3-4 hours. Scoop off only thick later at the top of each can (leaving the watery part behind) and put into a bowl. Add ¼ - ½ tsp liquid sweetener depending on how sweet you want the cream, I suggest adding ¼ tsp first and then adding more later if you think you need to. Whip using electric beaters until thick and resembling whipped cream. NOTE: some coconut creams are already quite thick and might actually need some of the water left in the cans for a better consistency. Start with no water and add a small amount of a time if the whipped cream is too thick, whipping after each addition of coconut water until you have the consistency you want.
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Spoon the whipped coconut cream on top of the custard layer and carefully spread it around with the back of a spoon so the cream is even.
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Decorate with the leftover fruit and keep in the fridge until ready to eat.
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