You are going to love this festive Easter Trifle, not only the taste but the beautiful display that comes along with it! Soft, fluffy layers of Funfetti cake are layered with creamy vanilla pudding and enticing Cool Whip to make an easy and fun spring trifle. It is the season for pastel colors and light desserts, and that’s exactly what we have added to this vanilla trifle.
One of the most satisfying things is being able to see the layers of cake and layers of pudding through the trifle dish. But what if you don’t have a trifle bowl? You can use any bowl or dish that has tall sides on it. Heck, you can even find something around the house like a clear ice bucket or punch bowl and make it work.
Another fun idea is to make individual servings of this colorful spring dessert. Try to use fancy stemware or mason jars. Just know this might take a little longer, but would be nice for fancier or formal occasions. You can check out my Bailey’s chocolate cheesecake trifles to see how pretty individual trifle servings are!
We go all out on our Easter celebration table. On our sweets table, we love to add in our Bird Nest Cupcakes. They are so festive and so adorable. Or some other easy Easter desserts are our Bunny Butt cupcakes and peanut butter chocolate eggs (just like Reese’s). Our Easter Poke Cake is just as colorful as this Easter trifle recipe with most of the same ingredients.
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🐰 Ingredients:
- Cake Mix – Party Rainbow Chip or Funfetti – prepare the cake using the ingredients and instructions on the box label. Bake in a 9×13 and allow to cool completely.
- Vanilla Instant Pudding – you can also use homemade pudding or a cooked variety, but make sure it has cooled completely before assembling the trifle
- Milk – we use whole milk but low fat or nonfat work just as well
- Blue and Pink food coloring – gel food coloring works best
- Whipped Topping – we layer Cool Whip with the cake and pudding layers. Fresh whipped cream also works/
- Edible candy grass – find this at the grocery store during Easter (edible easter grass) or from an online supplier anytime of year
- Easter egg candies – I used Whoppers Robin Eggs (or even jelly beans or mini creme eggs)
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Substitutions and Variations
- For more decoration or something different, add Peeps bunnies on top.
- Instead of prepared frozen whipped topping, make your own by combining 1 cup of heavy cream, ⅓ cup powdered sugar, plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat till stiff peaks form.
- Add a layer or two of crushed Golden Oreos or other cookies.
- Add in some fresh fruit or berries between the layers.
- Use food coloring in the whipped topping for more colored layers.
- Add sprinkles to the layers or on the top.
- This is also amazing with a sponge cake or angel food cake. Add a teaspoon of almond extract and sprinkles (rainbow jimmies are best so the color doesn’t bleed) to a white cake mix to make your own confetti cake.
🔪 Instructions:
Step 1: Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Prepare the cake mix according to the instructions on the package, pour the cake batter into the pan, and bake. Let it cool on a wire rack or cooling rack completely. Once the cake has cooled, slice it into one inch cubes using a serrated knife.
Step 2: Make each batch of pudding in a separate mixing bowl and follow the instructions on the box. Add a few drops of blue food coloring to one pudding bowl, then a couple of drops of pink to the other. Whisk and continue adding until it’s the desired color. Only add a few drops at a time because the color can change quickly.
Step 3: Place as many cake cubes that will fit in a single tight layer in the trifle dish.
Step 4: Scrape the blue pudding onto the cake layer, smoothing it with a spatula if needed. Spoon in two cups of Cool Whip (or whipped topping of choice) over the pudding layer.
Step 5: Repeat the layers, adding the cake cubes, followed by the pink pudding, then two more cups of whipped topping. Refrigerate the trifle for at least 4 hours.
Step 6: Hold a ½ thick group of edible candy grass and twist it into a circle starting at one end. Make 2 nests of each color.
Step 7: Add the bird nests to the top of the trifle, then add 3 candy eggs to each nest.
GARNISH/SLICE/SERVE: Dig into this Easter trifle dessert once decorated!
Recipe Tips for Easter Trifle
- Be sure the cake layers are tight to prevent the pudding from seeping in between.
- Chilling the cake first makes cutting much easier.
- For brighter colors: Use white chocolate pudding instead of vanilla pudding so the food coloring is mixed with a white base instead of yellow.
- To make the nests stay together, roll them tightly. You can tuck the ends into the whipped topping to hold into place.
- You can bake the cake one day in advance to assemble the final product more quickly.
- Yellow and white puddings work the best for dying, but you can also use banana or lemon too.
Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Do not keep at room temperature as there is dairy in the pudding and it could spoil.
We don’t recommend freezing this as the Pudding changes consistency when defrosted.
YES!! This is so easy to adapt to any holiday or celebration.
* For Christmas – simply use green and red food coloring in the pudding mixture and decorate with Holiday colored M&M’s or other Christmas candies.
* For Valentines Day – use pink and red food coloring instead and decorate with heart shaped candies and Red Hots!
Other Delicious and Beautiful Trifle Recipes
If you tried this Easter Trifle Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Easter Trifle
Ingredients
- 1 box Party Rainbow Chip cake mix prepared according to package directions (Funfetti cake mix can also be used)
- 2 3.4-ounce packages of vanilla instant pudding & pie filling mix
- 4 cups milk
- Blue & pink food coloring
- 1 16-ounce container whipped topping, thawed
- 1 package edible candy grass green, pink, and blue
- 18 pieces Easter egg candies for decorating I used Whoppers Robin Eggs
Instructions
- Bake the cake according to package directions, with parchment paper inside the pan for easy removal. After 10 minutes of the cake being out of the oven, remove it from the pan and place on a cooling rack. Allow the cake to cool completely. Using a serrated knife, cut the cake into one-inch pieces.
- Prepare the pudding according to package directions, keeping each package of pudding in a separate bowl. Add a few drops of blue food coloring to one bowl, then add a few drops of pink food coloring to the other bowl. Be sure to only add a little at a time until you get the desired color.
- Tightly place one layer of cake cubes in the bottom of a trifle dish or large glass bowl (fit as much cake as you can to not have gaps). Spoon one of the bowls of pudding over the top of the cake. Now spoon in 2 cups of the whipped topping over the pudding.
- Repeat with another layer of cake, the other color of pudding, then 2 more cups of the whipped topping.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
- Make bird nests (2 of each color) from the edible candy grass. Do this by holding a half-inch thick group of grass and spin the grass tightly into a circle starting with one end.
- Before serving, decorate the top of the trifle with 6 bird nests and add 3 candy eggs into each nest.
- Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
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Notes
- Be sure the cake layers are tight to make sure the pudding doesn’t seep in between.
- Chilling the cake first makes cutting much easier.
- For brighter colors: Use white chocolate pudding instead of vanilla pudding so the food coloring is mixed with a white base instead of yellow.
- To make the nests stay together, roll them tightly. You can tuck the ends into the whipped topping to hold into place.
- You can bake the cake one day in advance to assemble the final product more quickly.
- Yellow and white puddings work the best for dying, but you can also use banana or lemon too.
Nutrition
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