Jell-O Cake Trifle Recipe

Jell-O Cake Trifle recipe is an easy dessert made with a festive poke cake, cheesecake filling, and fresh berries. Perfect holiday dessert!

We love incorporating pudding and gelatin in our favorite desserts. Readers love our easy Chocolate Eclair cake. Our chocolate chip pudding cookies are also one of the most popular cookies with friends and family.

Clear glass trifle bowl filled with layers of blue jello cake, red jello cake, and white cheesecake filling. Topped with fresh berries.


Why this Jell-O Trifle is amazing

Childhood desserts are always some of the best desserts out there. 

This Trifle recipe was inspired by my mom who always made us Jello cake in the summer. Have you had a Lemon Jell-O Poke Cake? They’re so easy, and so refreshing on a hot summer day!

I thought it would be fun to make this easy trifle recipe with a cheesecake filling. I mean, what goes better with strawberries than cheesecake

Want to see how easy this trifle is to make?

How to Make a Jell-O Cake Trifle

Jell-O Cheesecake Trifle recipe is an easy dessert made with a festive poke cake, cheesecake filling, and fresh berries. Perfect holiday dessert!

Prepare the Cake. Prepare a box of white cake according to package directions. While the cake is baking, prepare the gelatin.

Make the JELL-O gelatin. For today’s recipe I opted for berry blue and strawberry gelatin (the small boxes). But feel free to use ANY flavor you decide, I just wanted a red, white, and blue dessert.

In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of boiling water with strawberry gelatin mix. Stir until dissolved. Repeat in a separate bowl with the berry blue gelatin. Set aside.

Poke Cake recipe

Poke Cake. Using a fork, poke holes all over the top of the baked cake (it can still be slightly warm). Pour strawberry gelatin over one half of the cake and the berry blue Jell-O over the other half.

Chill. Refrigerate cake 4 hours or overnight. This allows the gelatin to firm up inside the baked cake.

Make the Cheesecake. Beat cream cheese with sweetened condensed milk for several minutes, until smooth and fluffy. Add in lemon juice, mix completely. Fold in Cool Whip.

PRO TIP: For easy assembly of cake, make the cheesecake filling when you make the cake. Refrigerate both. When ready to assemble, everything is waiting and ready!

Assemble the trifle. Cut cake into cubes of red and blue. In the bottom of the trifle bowl, layer cubed strawberry cake and half of the cheesecake.

Then layer the berry blue cake with the remaining half of cheesecake. Top with extra Cool whip and fresh berries. Serve and enjoy.

Ingredient Notes

If you want a quick glance at what’s needed for today’s recipe, look no further. For the printable recipe with measurements, scroll all the way down!

  • White Cake – Using a boxed cake (or from scratch in a 13×9 baking dish), bake cake as directed. This will be the base of your jello poke cake!
  • Gelatin – For the red, white, and blue trifle you’ll want to use Berry Blue gelatin and a Strawberry (or Raspberry) gelatin. Feel free to substitute the Jell-o for your favorite flavor!
  • Cream Cheese – Soften before beating for creamy results! You could also use a low fat cream cheese in today’s recipe!
  • Sweetened Condensed Milk – Instead of using sugar with the cream cheese, the sweetened condensed milk provides all the sweetness, without any gritty texture! 
  • Lemon Juice – I always use a little lemon juice in my no bake cheesecake to bring out the flavor of the cream cheese (it does NOT make it lemon flavored)
  • Cool Whip- thawed and perfect for fluffing up your cheesecake and topping. You can also make a homemade whipped cream if you prefer! Our recipe for stabilized whipped cream is a great substitute.
  • Berries – Strawberry and Blueberry are the perfect complement to today’s red white and blue theme!
Jell-O Cheesecake Trifle recipe is an easy dessert made with a festive poke cake, cheesecake filling, and fresh berries. Perfect holiday dessert!

Easy Trifle tips

  1. Cake options. Lemon Bundt Cake or pound cake instead of white cake. Make an easy lemon whipped cream and lemon curd and layer with blueberries. SO TASTY.
  2. Swap out the white cake for chocolate cake. Skip the gelatin and make chocolate pudding instead. Layer cake, with cheesecake, chocolate pudding, and whipped cream. Add strawberries for a garnish!
  3. Make the jello poke cake the night before for easy assembly the day of your party. 
  4. Keep it healthier with sugar free gelatin, fat free cream cheese, and fat free Cool Whip. You can also use angel food cake if you prefer!

More Easy Cake Recipes

Jello Cheesecake Trifle

5 from 5 votes
By: Aimee
Jell-O Cheesecake Trifle recipe is an easy dessert made with a festive poke cake, cheesecake filling, and fresh berries. Perfect holiday dessert!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Chill Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Servings: 12 servings

Ingredients 

  • 1 box white cake with ingredients to make 13×9
  • 3 ounce box strawberry gelatin
  • 3 ounce box Berry Blue gelatin
  • 2 cups boiling water divided
  • 2 packages cream cheese, softened 8 ounce each
  • 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • ½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 12 ounce Cool Whip
  • 1 pound strawberries sliced
  • 1 cup blueberries
Save this Recipe?
Enter your email and we’ll send the recipe straight to your inbox!

Instructions 

  • Prepare cake mix according to package directions in a 13×9 baking pan.
  • In small bowl, mix 1 cup boiling water with strawberry gelatin mix. In another separate bowl mix 1 cup boiling water with berry blue gelatin mix.
  • Using a fork poke holes all over the top of the cooked and slightly cooled cake. Pour the strawberry gelatin over one half of the cake and the blue gelatin over the other half. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
  • When ready to assemble, beat cream cheese with condensed milk for 3 minutes until smooth. Add lemon juice, mix completely. Fold in 8 oz of cool whip.
  • In bottom of trifle bowl, layer with cubed strawberry cake, 1/2 of the cheesecake mixture. On top of the cheesecake layer the berry blue cake, and the remaining cheesecake. Garnish with remaining cool whip and fresh berries.

Notes

  • Cake options. Lemon Cake or pound cake instead of white cake. Make an easy lemon whipped cream and lemon curd and layer with blueberries. SO TASTY. Swap out the white cake for chocolate cake. Skip the gelatin and make chocolate pudding instead. Layer cake, with cheesecake, chocolate pudding, and whipped cream. Add strawberries for a garnish!
  • Make the jello poke cake the night before for easy assembly the day of your party. 
  • Keep it healthier with sugar free gelatin, fat free cream cheese, and fat free Cool Whip. You can also use angel food cake if you prefer!

Nutrition

Calories: 417kcal, Carbohydrates: 42g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 25g, Saturated Fat: 16g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 53mg, Sodium: 207mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 38g
Course: Cake
Cuisine: American
Did you make this recipe?Mention @shugarysweets or tag #shugarysweets!

Jell-O Cheesecake Trifle recipe is the perfect layered dessert. Poke cake, cheesecake, whipped cream, berries!



Avatar photo

About Aimee

Aimee is a dessert lover (specifically rice krispie treats), workout enthusiast, self-taught foodie, and recipe creator.

Learn more about Aimee.

Affiliate Disclosure:**There may be affiliate links in this post! By clicking on them, or purchasing recommended items I may receive a small compensation. However, I only recommend products I love! Thank you for supporting Shugary Sweets! See my disclosure policy for more info**

Learn How To Become a Better Home Baker
Sign up for the Shugary Sweets FREE Email Course Today—soon you’ll say, "I made it from scratch!"

Categories: ,


Posted on June 29, 2019

Comments & Reviews

    1. Sorry, some of my older recipes don’t have print options. You can copy and paste the recipe into a word document though and print that!

  1. This is a beautiful dessert. I am diabetic so I think I can lighten it up some with sugar and fat free versions of some of your ingredients. Looking forward to trying it. Thanks for a super idea!

  2. Congrats! You were in this week’s top 6 on A Themed Baker’s Sunday! Come back for this next week’s theme: 4th of July! If you’ve made anything for the 4th, come show it off!!
    http://cupcakeapothecary.blogspot.com/2011/07/themed-bakers-sunday-12.html
    Alyssa

  3. Mmmmm…I’m just imagining all the wonderful tastes and textures of the cake, fresh berries and creamy goodness all together! I love the patriotic flair too!

    Jenn

  4. So cool for the patriotic holidays in the summer heat! I love it! I’d like to invite you to share your recipe on A Well-Seasoned Life’s Sweet Indulgences Sunday.

    http://www.wellseasonedlife.com/2011/06/sweet-indulgences-sunday-7.html

  5. Love,love,love this. It’s so festive and looks yummy! It’s on my list for 4th of July. Thanks!

  6. Aimee, You are so clever!
    And I think you are “that type of person”..lol ;0)

    I love Jello Poke cake. And I make it every summer at least once.

  7. aw, that is the cutest! I love it equally in the mason jar or in the trifle dish. Very patriotic and it looks delicious too 😀

  8. yum what a perfect dessert for a party, thanks for sharing with us. Hope your weekend was fun 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating