Strawberry Madeleine Trifle

This 4-ingredient trifle is a true showstopper and crowd-pleaser! Layers of vanilla madeleines, whipped topping, strawberry sauce, and fresh strawberries.

Words cannot describe my love of this recipe. It honestly started out as a way to use up a bunch of leftover madeleines I had from a photoshoot and a bowl of strawberry reduction sauce I had leftover from Mr. Fantabulous’s birthday.

Madeleine cookies are almost cake-like in their crumb but perfectly dunkable with tea or coffee. And in a trifle that has a sweet sauce to soak up… PURE DELICIOUSNESS!

But first…the bowl! When I opened my fridge, I knew I wanted to make a trifle with the ingredients however I didn’t have a proper straight-walled trifle dish. So off to HomeGoods I went.

Immediately I spied this bowl and fell in love. It’s gorgeous, right?! Into my cart it went, and away we went home. Well okay, after I paid for it.  Stick around as I tell you what happened to the dish later on.

Grab your Ingredients

Technically this is a 4-ingredient recipe though you can totally make the items from scratch if you choose so.

• Vanilla Madeleines – My Recipe or you can support a local place and buy theirs if you choose.
• Strawberry Reduction Sauce – I used my recipe but you can totally buy this in your local store if you choose.
• Fresh Strawberries
• Whipped topping – you can make homemade stabilized whipped cream or buy a huge tub of the frozen whipped topping

Homemade Madeleines

I have a full recipe post on how to make these from scratch. As always, homemade is best in my books. But there is no judgment here if you want to support local bakeries and buy them pre-made.

Get the recipe here

Let’s Assemble The Trifle

1. To the bottom of your trifle dish, add 1/3rd of your whipped topping taking it almost to the edge.

1. Next, take one madeleine at a time and place the smaller end just on the outside of the whipped topping standing up. It’s okay if some of it ‘rests’ in the whipped topping.
2. Carefully go around the walls of the pan standing each one up.

You’ll adjust how many you need based on the size of your trifle bowl. I highly recommend doing this in a straight-walled trifle dish if possible.

Homemade Strawberry Reduction Sauce

While you can most certainly buy this stuff pre-made, making this from scratch is crazy easy and absolutely DELICIOUS! The process could not be any easier. All you need are fresh strawberries, some granulated sugar, and a little bit of butter.

• In a saucepan, add 6 cups chopped strawberries and 3/4 sugar, and bring to a boil.
• Once it starts to bubble around the edges reduce the temp to low and continue cooking until it starts to bubble and foam up.
• When the foam starts to form, add in a little bit of butter and stir.
• The whole process takes about 15 minutes or so. Stir frequently until the mixture thickens and you can drag a spoon through the reduction and the line remains for a bit before it slowly gets back together.

• Remove from the heat and transfer to another container. 
• Allow the mixture to come to room temperature or put it in the fridge to chill it faster.

  

Trust me, homemade is so worth it!

4. Take half of your strawberry reduction and spread it over top of the whipped topping.

5. Top with another layer of madeleines. It’s OK that you see some of the layers below.

6. Carefully spread another 1/3rd of the whipped topping overtop.

7. Add a layer of fresh strawberries.

8. Add the rest of the madeleines.

9. Add the rest of the whipped topping.

10. Spread over the rest of the strawberry reduction.
11. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours up to overnight.

Let it Chill!

This dessert is best served the next day as it gives the madeleines a chance to absorb all of the strawberry juices and liquids. However, as long as you chill it for at least 4 hours, you will be fine if you can’t wait any longer.

Recipe Substitutions and Additions

This recipe is super versatile and can be modified to your tastes or items you have on hand.

Substitutions

• Madeleines – ladyfingers would work really well with this
• Strawberry Reduction – blueberry, raspberry, peach, or pineapple reductions would be amazing in this.
• Whipped Topping – go with a no-bake cheesecake instead!

Additions

• Shaved chocolate or mini chocolate chips
• Sliced Bananas
• Hot Fudge or Ganache in between the layers 

My Poor Trifle Dish

When I finished this dessert I was awestruck by just how beautiful it looked in my new trifle bowl. I tucked it away in the fridge as we were going to a neighbors house the next day.

The next day arrives and I grab it out of the fridge and go to put it into my carrying bag to transport next door with a few of my cold packs from the freezer. And that’s when I heard it.

CRACK!!!  The base where it rests on the table cracked. Apparently, it hated the cold packs (even though it was already cold). Luckily it broke cleanly and no shards appeared so we were able to safely enjoy the dessert.

But my poor, poor brand new dish. RUINED. I did call HomeGoods to see if they had another but you know how that goes – what’s on the floor, is what’s on the floor. *sigh*

   

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