Have you ever noticed that trifles are almost always made with vanilla pudding and vanilla wafers or shortbread or angel food cake? Where’s the chocolate? I’m here today to change that! This Chocolate Berry Trifle involves creamy chocolate pudding, crunchy Oreo cookies, fresh fruit, and whipped cream. It’s quick and easy to whip up, can be made in individual dishes or one large one (I almost always prefer individual ones), and makes a great dessert for the 4th of July due to the red, white, and blue berries and cream!
Ingredient Notes
- Chocolate Pudding – You’ll need chocolate instant pudding. Regular or sugar free will work.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk – Find this on the baking aisle, usually down low near the evaporated milk.
- Heavy Whipping Cream – Heavy whipping cream has some added stabilizers that help the overall texture of the finished mousse. You could use regular whipping cream, you may just find your mousse has a softer texture.
- Cool Whip – Not a fan of Cool Whip? That’s ok! Whip 16 ounces of heavy cream with 1/2 cup powdered sugar to use in its place.
- Cream Cheese – Full fat or low fat will both work here. Avoid fat free.
- Oreos – We all know and love this name brand, but any sandwich cookie will do here. Feel free to switch things up according to your personal taste!
- Berries – Blueberries and strawberries make for a great combo. If you’re going for red and blue, raspberries or blackberries are also great additions.
How to Make Chocolate Berry Trifle
- For the chocolate pudding layer, blend together a package of instant chocolate pudding, some water, and a can of sweetened condensed milk. Then whip some cream and fold it all together into a rich mousse.
- Next, whip together some softened cream cheese and 2 containers of thawed Cool Whip (or whipped cream, if you prefer).
- Lastly, chop up some Oreo cookies, wash and slice a pint of strawberries and wash our blue(ish) berries (blueberries or blackberries work great).
- Finally, layer it all up! You can do this however you please. For these pictures, in individual serving dishes, I did a layer of pudding, followed by Oreos, berries, the whipped cream cheese mixture, and topped with more berries and Oreos. If you’re making this is one large trifle dish, simply repeat the layers until you use up all of your ingredients. I do recommend finishing the top off with a layer of the whipped cream cheese mixture and garnishing with berries and cookie pieces.
Storing and Other Tips
- This dessert is best served fresh. I highly recommend only assembling what you think will be eaten in one sitting. You can store the different components in the fridge and assemble new servings from the leftovers as needed.
- If you do save leftovers already assembled, just expect some squishy cookie pieces! Cover tightly and store in the fridge. Eat within 3 days.
- Yes, this is a recipe for Chocolate Berry Trifle, but this same method works for other flavor combinations. You could switch out the chocolate pudding for vanilla and/or change the berries for a different flavor profile. Banana pudding, Nutter Butters, and bananas would be a yummy combo, especially if you snuck a spoonful of peanut butter into the topping!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make these ahead of time?
The best way to prep this Chocolate Berry Trifle ahead of time is to prepare the pudding and whipped cream cheese mixture up to 24 hours in advance and store in airtight containers in the fridge. You can also prep all of your fruit and chop your Oreos. Layer everything together within a couple of hours of serving. You can, of course, put it all together earlier, just remember that the longer it sits, the softer the cookies become.
What if I don’t have a trifle bowl?
Trifle is a beautiful dessert that looks best in a clear bowl. If you don’t have clear dessert dishes, try mason jars or drinking glasses! Don’t own any suitable clear serving dishes? No worries; this trifle is just as delicious when you can’t see the layers.
Chocolate Berry Trifle
Rich chocolate pudding, Oreo cookies, fresh berries, and a whipped cream cheese topping. The perfect easy, no-bake dessert for the 4th of July or Memorial Day thanks to the red and blue berries and white whipped cream cheese topping!
Servings people
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 3.9-ounce package instant chocolate pudding
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 14- ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 8- ounce containers Cool Whip thawed
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened at room temperature
- ⅔ package Oreo cookies roughly chopped
- 1 pint blueberries blackberries, or a combination of both, washed
- 1 pint strawberries washed, hulled, and sliced
Instructions
- To prepare the chocolate layer, whisk together the pudding, cold water, and sweetened condensed milk. Refrigerate. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Fold into the chocolate pudding mixture until well-combined and then refrigerate until ready to use.
- To prepare the cream cheese layer, use an electric mixer to whip the cream cheese until it’s light and fluffy. Add the thawed Cool Whip and whip until light and fluffy and well-combined.
- Layer the ingredients in trifle dishes. If using individual dishes, it’s easiest to do a layer of pudding, cookies, strawberries, Cool Whip/cream cheese, and end with berries. If using one large trifle dish, repeat the layers until you run out of ingredients (or space).
Notes
- If desired, Cool Whip can be replaced with 16 ounces of heavy cream whipped with 1/2 cup powdered sugar.
- Yes, this is a recipe for Chocolate Berry Trifle, but this same method works for other flavor combinations. You could switch out the chocolate pudding for vanilla and/or change the berries for a different flavor profile. Banana pudding, Nutter Butters, and bananas would be a yummy combo, especially if you snuck a spoonful of peanut butter into the topping!
Nutrition
Calories: 428kcal, Carbohydrates: 52g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Cholesterol: 57mg, Sodium: 224mg, Potassium: 345mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 40g, Vitamin A: 700IU, Vitamin C: 28mg, Calcium: 167mg, Iron: 3mg
Calories: 428kcal
Cost: $15
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Questions & Reviews
One of our family’s favorite trifles is a prepared chocolate cake mix, crumbled, layered with chocolate pudding, cool whip and heath toffee pieces. Wonderful!
Hi, I love the thought of chocolate in trifles! I have a trifle I made this week and am posting this Friday with pound cake, lemon curd and gingersnap crumbs, it was delicious! My husband is English and grew up with the more traditional English trifle which has a layer of fruit and jello on the bottom with ladyfingers too. Not quite as appetizing as I’d like, especially after the first few bites, it just looks messy. We’ll have to give your chocolate creation a try.
The thing I love about my English mother is the fact that the only trifle we ever had in our house growing up consisted of chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, Cool Whip and Skor bits. I never had a fruit laden, vanilla pudding trifle until I was in my early 20s! Bless her for loving me enough to only make the really good stuff! This one looks good too, maybe we’ll have to switch things up one of these days and surprise the family with a trifle that has fruit in it! Haha
when i think of trifle (i have eaten several different kinds and loved them) I can’t help think of the episode of ‘Friends’ when Rachel tries to make a trifle and mixes up a trifle recipe and shepherd’s pie recipe. One of my favorite TV kitchen blunders of all time.
Oh, my gosh, TOTALLY! “Beans? Good. Meat? Good. Jam? Good.”
It’s funny how putting it in the small trifle bowl makes the berries look enormous. which makes them look delicious. Also, I’m not usually a huge fan of instant chocolate pudding but I can get on board with anything that has sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream in it! We are having company for dinner on Sunday and I’m pretty sure I’ll have to make this for dessert. Does it work to make this the day before or would I be better off to make the pudding (mousse?) and the cream ahead of time but assemble the trifle the day of?
You could definitely make it the day before–in fact, you’d probably be better off that way (rather than trying to assemble it later) because the pudding/cool whip mixtures will still be workable.
This sounds so yummy! Love the chocolate and berries combo.
This looks yummy and since the oreos are crushed and there is fruit, this is super healthy right?! I have only ever made one trifle, and it was amazing! Chocolate and peanut butter…can’t go wrong! Here is the link if anyone wants to try it.
http://www.cucinafamiglia.com/2011/12/peanut-butter-brownie-trifle.html
My friends and I do a “death by chocolate trifle” that includes oreos, broken chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, and heath bar bits with the cool whip. People fight over it! 🙂 This looks great with the berries.
People still make trifle with vanilla pudding (I’m thinking ‘dream topping’ or ‘angel delight’ from the UK)?? No wonder they think it’s old fashioned and icky. Trifles are ever popular over here but nowadays are made with fresh custard and whipped cream, plus fresh fruit- usually with strawberries at this time of year.
This looks perfect for this weekend and I have a plethora (yes, a true plethora)of chocolate pudding we need to use up. I have never made any trifle because although I think it looks pretty in the bowl once you take a scoop it is visually disturbing to me (weird, I know!) So now I will have to go hunt down these little trifle bowls since they are adorable! Keep up the great work ladies, you’re amazing!