Tailgate Trifle - Cherry Cheesecake Trifle

I’m giving this recipe a dual name because I seriously couldn't decide which I wanted to call it. Following the recipe, it totally is a lovely cherry cheesecake(ish) trifle but you could have so much fun with this on game day!

I got the whole ‘tailgate trifle’ idea when I was looking at the vibrant red paired with the crisp white and I thought... man, if I were a Georgia fan, I’d totally declare this a UGA dessert!

AND THEN, I got to thinking about all the other types of pie filling out there. You could use blueberry pie filling if your colors are blue and white. Or you could use dark cherry pie filling if your color is garnet (GO COCKS!) or burgundy. Peach pie filling for orange… blackberry for purple, pineapple for yellow or gold… you get it. And if your team has two colors you can totally use two different pie fillings for the two layers.

Note to self: stock up on every single type of pie filling imaginable for the next rainy day so you can make trifles for the entire SEC.

My recipe calls for you to make an angel food cake from a box mix but you don’t have to – you can certainly buy a premade one from the bakery section of your grocery store or make one from scratch. But there are two reasons I like to make it at home and use the box mix. One is that a box of angel food cake mix costs like a dollar and there’s no way you can make one from scratch or buy a cake for cheaper. The second reason is that all the brands of angel food cake mix I've ever tried have a definite almond extract flavor going on and almond extract and cherries go together like peas and car-rots.

And you SO don’t have to make this in a trifle dish. I just did it this way to show you the pretty layers. You can make this is just about any sort of medium-large bowl or even make individual servings in pretty glasses or dessert bowls.

Tailgate Trifle a.k.a. Cherry Cheesecake Trifle
1 box angel food cake
1 8-oz. block cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 12-oz. tub cool whip, thawed
1 20-oz. can cherry pie filling

Bake the angel food cake per manufacturer’s instructions and cool cake completely. Cut cake into 1-inch cubes and set aside.

Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Fold in cool whip and set aside.

To assemble, add half of angel food cake pieces to the bottom of a trifle bowl (or any medium-large bowl). Cover angel food cake pieces with half of cream cheese mixture. Dollop half of the cherry pie filling onto cream cheese mixture. Repeat layers.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tailgate Trifle Team Color Options:

Team Color	Pie Filling
Blue	Blueberry
Red	Cherry
Purple	Blackberry
Garnet/Burgundy	Dark Cherry
Gold/Yellow	Pineapple
Orange	Peach

PRINTABLE RECIPE