This easy Christmas trifle won't stress you out but will save your holiday entertainment. Layers of red velvet cake, pudding, and whipped cream come together quickly and make this gorgeous and delicious holiday treat.
Easy to make and so festive!
This Christmas trifle is quick and easy but it looks like you've spent hours making it.
I had fun using gingerbread cookies and sprinkles to decorate it, but you can certainly make it your own.
Red velvet cake mix and vanilla pudding tinted with green food color are so festive and will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth.
Doesn't it look just so Christmassy and inviting? Dig into this delicious dessert this festive season! Happy Holidays to you and yours!
For more Christmas recipes, be sure to check out my Edible Christmas Candles and Homemade Christmas Baileys.
📋Why This Recipe Works
- Although I prefer homemade cake to control what goes into it, I used a boxed mix for this recipe. Christmas cooking is already so demanding and stressful, so why not make baking a little easier, right? The little ones certainly don't care if it's made from scratch or not.
- Because we use a boxed cake mix, you can easily make this gluten-free if you or someone in your family has an intolerance.
- This is such a great make-ahead dessert! Perfect for the busy holidays!
- If you are entertaining a crowd, this Christmas trifle will easily serve 10!
- You can serve it in one dish or as individual servings!
🛒Ingredients and Notes
- Red velvet cake: I use a box mix for this recipe to make this a really easy and convenient dessert. If you have a killer recipe for a red velvet cake, by all means, use that!
- Instant Pudding: I used vanilla flavored pudding, but you can use chocolate if you prefer a double chocolate trifle!
- Green food coloring: I used this gel food coloring, as it is more concentrated than liquid food coloring.
🔪Step by Step Instructions
- Prepare the batter and bake in a 9x13-inch pan as directed on the package. Cool completely.
- Beat pudding mixes and milk in a medium bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Mix in green food coloring until the desired shade is reached.
- Cut cake into ½-inch cubes. Distribute two layers of the cake, pudding, and the whipped cream evenly into individual glasses or layer half each of the cake, pudding, and the whipped cream in a trifle bowl; repeat layers.
- Decorate as desired.
💡Recipe Tips
- Use white chocolate instant pudding mix instead of vanilla.
- If you like, omit the food coloring and use pistachio pudding instead. It won't be as vibrant in color, but it will still look great!
- Let the cake cool completely before building your Christmas trifle. If it's still warm, the pudding will slide off the pieces and end up in the bottom of the bowl.
📝Variations:
There are plenty of ways to adapt this trifle for any occasion.
You can really use any boxed cake mix with any flavor pudding, different color of the coloring, or even swapping out whipped topping for frosting or something else - the world’s your oyster!
Well, the world’s your trifle at least! For example:
- A yellow cake mix with pink coloring in the pudding, with mini eggs and chopped chocolate sprinkled through the layers for Easter.
- Funfetti cake mix with no coloring (but sprinkles between each layer) and candles on top for a birthday
- Chocolate cake mix with red-colored pudding and plastic spiders and other Halloween decorations for a Halloween treat - and, of course, hidden candies between the layers.
- Chocolate cake with chocolate pudding and chocolate frosting instead of whipped cream for the chocolate-lover - and don’t forget to decorate with different types of a chocolate bar!
- White cake with pink or blue coloring for a gender reveal (or half pink and half blue!)
- Vanilla cake (all at the bottom) with blue coloring in both the pudding and whipped cream (with either jello, candy, or plastic sea creatures - think Swedish fish - scattered throughout the layers) for an ocean-lover. Don’t forget to put some of the sea creatures around the outside of the trifle bowl to serve as a sort of aquarium!
❓FAQs
Yes, this easy Christmas trifle is a great make-ahead dessert! You can bake the cake ahead of time and keep it wrapped tightly in the fridge or freezer.
You can build the whole trifle without the cream and keep it covered in the fridge for up to 2 days. Just add the cream and any decorations a few hours before serving.
If you are lucky enough to have any leftovers, keep them covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. The cake will become softer, and the pudding will be a little looser, but it will still be good to eat.
It's best not to freeze this easy Christmas trifle. The pudding can separate, and the texture of the jello can change significantly. If you really need to freeze it, then it's best thawed and enjoyed within a week. It will still taste good, but the texture won't be the same.
💗More Great Recipes to Try
Try more delicious Christmas desserts:
- Tiramisu Cheesecake
- Eggnog Gingerbread Cheesecake Cake
- Cranberry Orange Cream Tart
- Gugelhupf with Candied Fruit
- Guava Charlotte
Liked this recipe? Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section. Your feedback is always appreciated! Stay in touch through Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook! Don't forget to sign up for my email list below too!
Easy Christmas Trifle Recipe
Equipment
- 9x13 baking pan
- Trifle bowl or individual glasses
- Mixing bowls
- A whisk
Ingredients
- 1 package red velvet cake mix (plus ingredients needed to bake it)
- 2 packages JELL-O vanilla instant pudding 3.9 oz. each
- 4 cups cold milk
- 8 oz. cool whip thawed
- Green food coloring
Instructions
- Prepare cake batter and bake in a 9x13-inch pan as directed on the package. Cool completely.
- Beat pudding mixes and milk in a medium bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Mix in green food coloring until the desired shade is reached.
- Cut cake into ½-inch cubes. Distribute two layers of the cake, pudding, and the whipped cream evenly into individual glasses or layer half each of the cake, pudding, and the whipped cream in a trifle bowl; repeat layers.
- Decorate as desired.
Notes
- Use white chocolate instant pudding mix instead of vanilla.
- If you like, omit the food coloring and use pistachio pudding instead. It won't be as vibrant in color, but it will still look great!
- Let the cake cool completely before building your Christmas trifle. If it's still warm, the pudding will slide off the pieces and end up in the bottom of the bowl.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used and serving size.
It certainly does look festive. Plus t this time of year easy is pretty a darn awesome.
I totally agree, Elise! 🙂
A nice simple Christmas Trifle. We will feature this on the Blogger's Pit Stop this week.
Kathleen
Blogger's Pit Stop
Thank you so much, Kathleen! I'm thrilled. 😀
Mmmm, that looks great, and so pretty too! Love the little cookies decorating the sides of the bowl, and I love red velvet cake!
Hi, Florence! Hope your week is off to a great start! I'm glad you like this trifle! 🙂 Thanks for stopping in! XO
This is about the prettiest dish ever! Love it 🙂
Aw, thank you, Jen! 😀
This is the most festive trifle I have ever seen !!
Aw, thanks Amber! 😀
Your Easy Christmas Trifle looks fantastic, it will be a big hit at any party! Hope you have a great week and thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday.
Miz Helen
Thank you, as always, Miz Helen!
Wow this looks fantastic and so fun!
Thanks, Kat! 😀
This is such a unique trifle! I love the colors!!! Going on my menu for Christmas Eve!
Thank you, Natalie! 🙂 Enjoy!
Your trifle looks gorgeous and really does sound easy to make! Pinned and stumbled:) #Fiesta Friday
Thank you, Monika! Appreciate your kindness. Enjoy your weekend!
I love trifles. This is the perfection addition to the holiday table. Festive, fun and yummy! Thanks for sharing on Sunday's Best.
Thank you bunches, Rhonda! 🙂
I am sure this would be a great desert during the holiday and for this week’s Fiesta Friday party! Thanks for coming and happy Fiesta Friday!
Thank you, Jhuls! Have a great weekend!
Yes, I LOVE trifles for easy and impressive desserts. And this one is so festive, too! Thanks so much for sharing at the #happynowlinkup!
Thank you, darling Leslie!
How pretty - I love how the top layer looks like snow! Thanks for sharing at The Blogger's Pit Stop! Roseann from http://www.thisautoimmunelife.com
Thank you, Roseann! You have a great observation. 🙂
I love how Christmasy the colors are! Thanks for sharing with Party in Your PJs!
Thanks for the recipe! I like to cook, but with all the busyness of the holidays, I love anything that is simple. And I love the idea of adding the gingerbread cookies to the top! So festive!
I know, right? There's so much food to be cooked for holidays, so the simpler the better 🙂
Hi Jas, hope to see you over at Food on Friday with this and other great things. Cheers from Carole's chatter
Thanks, Carole!
So cute!!
Thank you, Jenna! 🙂
Wow, layers of red velvet cake, pudding, and whipped cream sound heavenly! I have never seen or tried a recipe like this. Thank you for the recipe. This would be great to take to my family party!
Thanks, Natalie! It's pretty easy to make which is a plus when we get so busy with holidays 🙂
Such a pretty dessert! And it looks delicious! Pinning to my Christmas treats board.
Thank you, Beverly! Have a wonderful week!
I used to make trifle every Christmas. You've inspired me to make it again, it looks delicious!
Karee
Thanks, Karee. Gotta love easy desserts 🙂
I love how you decorated it, very creative.
Thanks so much, Crystal!
Looks yummy! I just love triffles! They're always pretty easy to throw together and taste so good!
That they are! Can't really mess them up 🙂
What a fun and festive dessert. Of course you did it up so cute. I'll have to remember this for our holiday parties!
Best of all, so easy to make and yummy 😀
This is very pretty to look at. You know, I had no idea what red velvet cake was until a few years ago - it seemed like a southern thing, like sweet tea. It seems like an awfully lot of red food colouring... maybe if the colour came from beets I'd be more enthusiastic, I don't know. You know what, maybe I just need another drink.... Carolans & coffee (perfectly legit am liquor, amiright?)
I have no clue how much red food coloring is in the red velvet cake mix. Never made it from scratch though. Once I made a red velvet cake for my BIL like a coiled snake, with fondant that looked like a skin of a yellow python with head and everything. He loved it, especially when he cut it through and all that red showed up! 🙂
That totally reminds me of that movie scene in Steel Magnolias where the Mother of the Groom made a red velvet Groom's cake in the shape of an armadillo!
Haha, true! 😀