Triple berry yogurt trifle (paleo & vegan)

This glorious berry trifle is the ultimate comfort food dessert.

The best part of the holiday season in our part of the world is that berries are in season. They are so full of flavour and cheap at this time of the year, that you can grab a few extra punnets and go large with an opulent, berry-luscious dessert big enough to feed family, friends and blow-ins.

There is nothing quite like a trifle to round off a special, festive meal. You can have a tiny scoop (if you’re bursting) or go to the well again and again (without anyone really noticing).

No one will know (or care) that it’s grain-free, sugar-free and dairy-free. It’s a healthy, gut-loving trifle! The hero is, of-course, homemade coconut yogurt! Beautifully creamy, coconut cream replaces traditional cream and custard making our trifle creation both vegan and paleo.

Don’t think for a minute that without dairy you’re missing out. Loads of fresh, seasonal berries together with our glistening homemade berry chia jam bring buckets of flavour and natural sweetness. For a boozy hit, drizzle (or douse) the cake and jam with brandy or sherry before adding the yogurt. OMG you’ll think it’s Christmas! 

Even though this trifle has multiple components, each part is easy, and you can make it well ahead of time to ease the pressure. In fact, that’s the secret to a simply luscious trifle, you must allow the layers plenty of time to meld - especially if it contains alcohol! Once all the components are down and the berries are prepped, assembly is a breeze!

Our simple vegan and grain-free, cake batter comes together in the Vibe Blender System, which makes it super speedy to whip up. You can use any cake though – anything that will soak up fruit juice and alcohol will do. We prepared our cake batter thin on a tray, so we could slice and layer it with lashings of homemade berry-luscious chia jam. The oozing, jammy layered cake adds moisture and looks extra festive and pretty.

We used coconut yogurt made with Aroy D coconut milk but you can use any of our yogurt recipes from our yogurt maker recipe blog.

Use our recipe as a template; the delicious healthy foundation for enjoying a medley of sweet in-season berries and celebrating the holidays in style. 

INGREDIENTS

4-6 cups homemade coconut yogurt 
2 punnets of fresh strawberries – washed and chopped into quarters
1 punnet fresh blueberries
1 punnet of fresh raspberries
¼ - 1/3 cup of brandy or sherry

Cake
1 cup of almond milk or water
1 tablespoon of golden flaxseeds
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of baking power
1 ¼ cup of ground almond flour
¼ cup of coconut flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
½ cup of coconut sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

Mixed berry chia jam
2 cups of mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
½ cup water
2 tablespoons of white chia seeds
¼ cup of maple syrup 

METHOD 

Cake
1.   Preheat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF
2.   Line a slice tray with baking paper
3.   Add all of the ingredients into the Vibe Blender jug in the order listed and blend on ‘smoothie’ mode for 25 seconds.
4.   Pour the batter into the prepared tin and spread to the sides with a spatula.
5.   Bake for 30 minutes.
6.   Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool. Once cool, store in a sealed container until ready to use. Note: The cake has a dense consistency but softens deliciously once constructed.

Mixed berry chia jam
7.   Combine the berries and water in a small saucepan.
8.   Simmer on a low heat, with the lid on for 5 minutes.
9.   Smash the berries to a puree
10. Add the chia seeds and maple syrup and stir to incorporate.
11. Pour the berry mixture into a glass jar to cool. As the berries cool, the chia seeds will swell and thicken the mixture to jam consistency.
12. Seal the jar and keep in the fridge until required. Chia jam will last up to one week.

Constructing the trifle.
13. Slice the cake in half and generously spread with chia jam.
14. Cut each section in half again and join with jam.
14. Repeat the process until you have small rectangles of stacked cake oozing with jam.
15. Lay pieces of cake across the base of the bowl and up the sides.
16. Dollop with extra chia jam.
Note: There is no one way to construct a trifle but consider how it will look when viewing the bowl from the side. Distinct layers will have the most impact.
17. Drizzle the alcohol over the cake.

18. Add spoonful’s of coconut yogurt (approx. one third) around the edges of the bowl.
19. Scatter the chopped strawberries on top, filling the whole in the centre if there is a dip in the ingredients.
20. Spoon in the remaining coconut yogurt and spread to the edges.
21. Dollop the remaining chia jam on top and then decorate with fresh raspberries and blueberries.
22. Place in the fridge for several hours – overnight is best.

You might also like our cheats coconut yogurt tiramisu parfaits and granola yogurt fruit tart.

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