Berrymisu Trifle
A unique twist on tiramisu, this berries and cream trifle has the delicious addition of sweet-soaked ladyfingers for a perfect combination.
Think of this elegant Berrymisu as a distant cousin to my beloved {extremely nontraditional} tiramisu.
The crisp biscuits or ladyfingers are dipped in a sweet and tart simple lemon syrup and layered between a luxurious raspberry cream cheese filling.
After the trifle chills out for a few hours, the flavors blend together in a refreshing mixture of sweet raspberry, tart lemon and velvety cream.
Perfect for so many occasions (think: potluck, baby shower, birthday request, just for the heck of it), this simple dessert is sure to please – even if it does look like pure sloppy goodness dished up in bowls.
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Berrymisu Trifle
Ingredients
- 1 (12-ounce) package frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed
- 12 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar, divided
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup lemon juice, bottled or freshly squeezed
- 50 crisp ladyfingers or 40 chamagne/almond biscuits, crisp style
- Sweetened whipped cream, for garnish
- Fresh raspberries, for garnish
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, puree the thawed raspberries until smooth. Strain the raspberry mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl to get rid of the seeds. Press the mixture with a spoon through the strainer to extract as much liquid as possible. You should end up with about 1 cup of puree. Discard the seeds.
- Using a handheld or electric stand mixer, beat the softened cream cheese and 3/4 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl until smooth. In a medium bowl, beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture, using a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together so the cream doesn’t deflate. Fold in the raspberry puree and gently mix until just combined.
- In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 1 cup sugar, water and lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove the syrup from the heat and let it cool until lukewarm to the touch. You can pour the syrup into a shallow pie plate for easier dipping or keep it in the pan – your choice.
- Briefly dip the ladyfingers or biscuits in the syrup – about 1-2 seconds each side. Layer the soaked ladyfingers/biscuits in a single layer in the trifle dish. Gently spread 1/4 of the raspberry cream cheese mixture over the ladyfingers then repeat the layers 3 more times, ending with the raspberry cream cheese (alternately, you can use slightly less ladyfingers and repeat all the layers only three times).
- Refrigerate the trifle for 3 hours (or up to 12), garnish with additional sweetened whipped cream, if desired, and fresh berries and serve chilled.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Kim, a reader
Can you use fresh raspberries in place of the frozen?
Also what size trifle dish is needed? Looks like there are some that are 3 quart and some are 5 quart. I want to make sure I don’t run out of room!
Yes, you could use fresh raspberries. I would use a 5-quart trifle just to be safe on size.
I made this yesterday in a practice run. Need to bring dessert for a baby shower next Sat.
I used the individually packaged Madeleines from Costco instead of the ladyfingers. They’re really tasty and held up really well (we waited about 6 hours between making and eating, but they weren’t at all soggy, so would probably last even longer.) My only problem with them is all the packaging, seems wasteful.
Make sure your cream cheese is no longer cold. I warmed in the microwave, but not long enough and had tiny clumps of white in the pink mixture (this is why we do a practice run…).
I was worried because I thought the cream cheese mix tasted more like cream cheese than raspberries immediately upon making it. But it was better after sitting for the 6 hours.
I didn’t do the lemon syrup dip. I thought the raspberries were acidic enough. I don’t love citrus things, but I’m sure that would have added another dimension to the dessert for those who do.)
I shaved some chocolate sea salt bars and put a layer of that on the top. It was really good and will mix some into the raspberry cream cheese mix next weekend.
We did individual serving cups as I will do that next week. The recipe made 10 generous cups. I made them in 9 oz cups. The dessert is rich, you could for sure do smaller portions and satisfy people. I may do a layer of plain whipped cream in the middle of each cup next week, for appearance sake and to make the raspberry mix go a bit farther. I’ll need 13 cups for the shower.
Both the men and the women (and the 8 year old girl) last night said they enjoyed the dessert.
Made this yesterday for a church group dinner, and I got a lot of positive feedback about it. However, when my husband and boys tried the leftovers, they didn’t like it. I’m not sure if the ladies at church were just being polite, but I thought it was good, too. I’m thinking that if there was anything that I may have done differently it was that I might have soaked the lady fingers a bit too long in the lemon syrup. I was only able to get about 30 lady fingers out of it. Maybe the ones I used were bigger? I think my husband and boys did not expect the lemony lady fingers to be the texture that they were. I was able to find the crispy lady fingers at Harmon’s, a local (Utah) grocery store. I really liked the raspberry cream and might just use it as a filling in a regular cake. 🙂
My husband has severe nut and egg allergies, so it is lovely that you can search the website for allergen-free recipes. The Berrymisu looks delicious! I was surprised to find it under “egg-free.” Do you have a brand of ladyfingers that you use that is egg-free? I have been unable to find one.
Good question, Carrie! I’m actually glad you brought this to my attention – I need to take it off “egg-free” for that reason; however, I have made it two times for egg-free friends of mine by making my own ladyfingers. It’s kind of a lot of work but worth it if you can’t eat eggs.
Could you please post the recipe you use for the egg-free ladyfingers. I would be so grateful!
Carrie – When I made this dessert for my egg-free friends, I used this recipe for ladyfingers (the link takes you to a recipe for tiramisu – I just used the ladyfinger part of the recipe). They aren’t exactly like the kind you can buy in the store but they definitely work.
http://veggywood.com/2010/07/19/vegan-tiramisu-finally/
I made this for Easter — amazing!! Seriously — one of the best things to leave my kitchen (aside from pretzel rolls, of course) :). I couldn’t find ladyfingers anywhere, so I made my own. I, too, was not paying very close attention and only baked them to spongy — but it didn’t seem to matter. I was careful not to soak them too long, but they weren’t mushy. Thanks Mel!!
Marlo – so impressed with the homemade ladyfingers!
We are about to find out if spongy lady fingers work cause I guess I didn’t read the ingredients list as closely as I should have. It really looks delicious as our Easter Dinner desert. Oh and we used mixed berries but stayed with the raspberry garnish.
Thanks Mel. Used the cauliflower, garlic mashed, green bean salad, deviled eggs and crook pot ham recipes so this Easter is all yours!
I LOVE this recipe. Its awesome! So delicious and beautiful. Thank you!! I’ve made it several times… mmm…
This was so awesome! And I was really surprised how easy it was to put together. Tasted like a fresh breath of spring in the middle of winter. I made two changes: 1) I used mascarpone cheese in place of the cream cheese because I’ve always wanted to try that (and it was delicious) and 2) when I sweetened the whipped cream on top, I added a 1/4 tsp of lemon extract. Really yummy, will definitely make again!
Hi Mel, I made this and posted it today! It’s beautiful and delicious! Thanks!
I had this for my birthday “cake.” It turned out great! We could only find soft ladyfingers, so they soaked up a little too much lemon syrup, but it still tasted delicious! Great recipe!
HI There! First, I hope you have a happy Memorial Day.
Second, I am making this trifle to take to a BBQ, and I bought the spongy lady fingers, by accident. But, I did what you suggested, and dried them out in my oven. This worked perfectly! I have a question, though. Do I use 50 lady finger halves or 50 whole lady fingers. I hope that question makes sense. Anyways, let me know. Thanks so much.
Oh, also, I made the spinach artichoke dip for a baby shower on Friday, and it was delicious! I cannot tell you how many people asked for the recipe. There were so many! Seriously, amazing, and easy stuff that dip is. Thanks for the recipes!
Heidi – I’m so sorry for the delay in responding! I’ve been away from my computer all weekend. Did the berrymisu trifle work out? I used 50 ladyfingers – I didn’t halve them at all – the crisp ones are long and narrow so I used 50 whole ones.
I’m glad the spinach artichoke dip was a hit as well. Thank you!
Perfect mother’s day dessert! I loved that even a small serving was very satisfying.
I had a hard time finding the lady fingers too!! But ended up finding them at cost plus world market!
Where did you find the crisp style lady fingers? I’ve been to 3 stores and they only carry the soft, spongy kind. I’m dying to try this!
Hi Kim – I’ve found the crisp ladyfingers in a huge grocery store we have here (it is called Woodman’s but I think it is only local). I know you can buy them online, too, at amazon.com. If you can only find the soft kind, I’ve heard you can dry them in the oven (at 200 degrees until they don’t feel soft) and they can be subbed in for the crisp style.
Thank you Mel. My daughter wants this for her dessert at her baptism but she doesn’t like raspberries :(. I am so excited to make it! I will be making one with raspberries and one with strawberries!
Made this for my friends baby shower and it was WONDERFUL! Everyone loved it. The flavor was very nice and it looked very pretty before everyone tore into it. I also made your chocolate chip cheeseball and it was great too. I had no cheeseball left. I LOVE your website and give it to everyone who asks for recipes!
Do you think this would work with strawberries?
Cindy – yes, I think it would be delicious! I would probably use the same amount of frozen strawberries (unsweetened) and garnish with fresh strawberries. You might even be able to skip the straining step on the strawberry puree since the seeds aren’t as noticeable as with raspberries.
i totally thought baby or bridal shower when i saw this–the light pink goo is lovely and appropriate. terrific trifle!
Absolutely gorgeous! I could devour that with very little help 🙂
Sounds amazingly light and delish!:)
I love everything about this–esp the name 🙂
I don’t know Mel. I don’t think I can trust you and your trifles, or perhaps it’s better to say I trust you too much. Your Lemon Berry Trifle gets me in trouble every time I make it. Like sitting over the trifle bowl with the serving spoon trouble. This is looking to be the same kind of temptation, but I think I’m up for the challenge!
This is one of the prettiest trifles I have seen!
That is gorgeous and looks crazy delicious! I love the combination of lemon and raspberries. I’m going to have to come up with a good reason to make this sometime soon!
How beautiful! I love raspberries and trifles. This is a sure win!
Um…. yum!
I have baby showers on the brain! Everyone is having babies right now. I think this is gorgeous and great for feeding a crowd.
This looks delicious, Melanie! I love the color! Trifles always look gloppy once served, but this would be pretty in individual glass dessert glasses for a special occasion! Any way you serve it, it looks yummy!
It’s about time someone came up with a different tiramisu! Yours looks delicious!
I love trifles! They are always such a pretty presentation for parties! I will add this one to my ever expanding trifle recipe file!
Oh my this is a wonderful treat. It looks just delicious. I adore the pink color. 😉
Mmm this looks really good Mel! I like the sweet and tart combination and the name is very cute:) Yum!
I already know this will be a spring/ summer favorite. I can already taste this! Tiramisu is one of my faves too, I love all the real food ingredients in this recipe.
WOW – this sounds amazing! Can’t wait to try this!
This is so pretty! There is something about pretty food that makes life’s troubles melt away for a while. Do you know what I mean? This dessert is a perfect way to kiss winter goodbye.